


Destiny

by Laurawrzz



Series: Destiny [1]
Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who & Related Fandoms, Doctor Who (2005), Torchwood
Genre: Action/Adventure, Aftermath of Torture, Alternate Universe, Angst, Babies, Comedy, Doctor Whump, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Emotional/Psychological Abuse, F/M, Fluff, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Multi, Post-Episode AU: s04e13 Journey's End, Pregnancy, Romance, Smut, Time Travel, Tragedy, Whump
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-06-05
Updated: 2015-06-08
Packaged: 2018-04-03 00:20:33
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 21
Words: 38,706
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4079440
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Laurawrzz/pseuds/Laurawrzz
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The Doctor and Rose are in an intense romantic relationship on board the TARDIS living happily, until one day the Doctor's future self, battered and bruised, turns up in Torchwood intent on breaking the laws of times and changing his own past.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> This is the first of (so far) seven part series that is still continuing as it doesn't seem to want to end...! This work was written in 2010 and posted on FF.net, but for AO3 I've significantly updated/rewritten it. Enjoy!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Doctor and Rose experience the death of the metacrisis, and decide to change their lives forever.

Rose Tyler's single human heart was beating so hard it was threatening to burst through her chest, as tears streamed down her face, partially from fear, partially from panic and partially from the pure strain of dragging the Doctor's blooded body down the spaceship’s corridor. He was gasping and crying out in pain, obviously caused by the very distinct and bloody wound in his chest.

She could hear the sounds of the aliens still in pursuit, talking frantic sally amongst themselves in a language that – up until five minutes ago – had been translated perfectly by the TARDIS. Now they hissed and clicked like mantids, their language lost to her ears from the broken part of the translator circuit lying bleeding to death in her arms.

"Rose, run!" Don, the Doctor's metacrisis shouted, appearing at the other end of the corridor and gesturing frantically for her to keep going. "Get him back to the Tardis!"

Her back and arms ached their protest from the effort of pulling the Doctor across the cold, steely grating, but she had to keep going. Had to keep fighting. Tears were disrupting her vision so she reached up and wiped them away from her eyes, but only succeeded in smearing the Doctor's blood all over her face. She pressed her hand back over his chest wound, trying to stop the bleeding, but it just kept coming out from between her fingers.

She could hear the stampede of aliens sounding closer and closer as Don arrived beside her, slinging the Doctor's arm around his shoulder and pulling him with her along the corridor.

"Halt!" one of the aliens yelled, and instantly something exploded from beside their heads as the aliens began to fire off shots in their direction.

"Quicker!" Don yelled as they found the service steps, the TARDIS still parked where they had left it. Never had she seemed so far away...

They reached the doors, Rose fumbling clumsily for her key.

"Hurry up!" Don yelled, checking over his shoulder. The aliens were rapidly gaining now. One of them had its stinger out, pointed directly at Rose whilst she tried to find her key. Don's eyes widened. One sting was completely toxic…

Without even thinking he tore away from the Doctor and Rose and threw himself in the stinger's path as its poisonous projectile launched towards the human woman. Everything seemed to fall into slow motion as it screamed towards him - he could see it spinning in mid-air - until it finally reached him and connected directly with his stomach. Pain screamed instantly through his belly and he gasped in surprise at the pain of the impact as the deadly toxin immediately began to spread...

He fell backwards through the now open TARDIS door, grasping onto the metal railing to try and stay upright. Rose shut the door behind them, abruptly stopping the advance of the alien creatures. But they weren't safe yet.

"Are you okay?!" Rose asked Don anxiously. He forced himself to straighten up, blinking erratically in an attempt to focus his vision. He pulled his jacket over his wound, shielding it from her.

"I'm fine, get him to the infirmary!" he said, slinging the Doctor's arm back around his shoulder and supporting him as they rushed him to the TARDIS Infirmary, his body leaving a vicious blood trail across the grating. It was now a race against time. He'd since passed out.

They reached the infirmary within twenty seconds, and together they lifted him onto the examination table. Instantly Don assumed authority with the prominent Donna in him, barking orders at Rose as he cut up the Doctor's clothing and began to work on saving his life.

In ten minutes he'd managed to stop the bleeding, clean the wound, extract the bullet and bandage him up. But he could feel the poison slowly working its way through his system, the colours of the world bright and dizzying...

"Move him to a bed," he ordered Rose.

Rose obeyed, and with a little difficulty moved the still unconscious Doctor to one of the Infirmary beds, tucking him in. Don quickly drew an oxygen mask over his face to aid his breathing and connected him to several drips.

"Is he gonna be okay?" Rose asked anxiously.

Don nodded, but his legs were turning to jelly beneath him. He dropped down onto the nearest bed to prevent himself from falling over. "He'll need round the clock care for a while, he's gonna be weak and lethargic. You need to change his bandages everyday, and stock up on his drips. You know how to do that, right?"

She nodded, barely looking at Don as she sat on the Doctor's mattress, brushing back his hair from his eyes.

"Good," Don said, wincing and holding a hand to his stomach. "He should heal fast, but you're gonna have to cater to his every need for at least three days. Don't give him anything too difficult to digest - like steak - stick with soup for a few days. Time boy might moan but it's all he can have."

He couldn't stop a groan from escaping his lips as the poison continued to work itself around his body, killing his cells. His right arm was starting to go numb…

Rose finally looked up at him, hunched over and holding his stomach, groaning in pain. Her eyes widened. In seconds she had jumped off of the bed and over to him, ripping his hand from his stomach and pulling back his shirt.

"What the hell?" she said as the sight of the puncture mark in his stomach became apparent, the skin around the hole inflamed and red.

"Rose," Don gasped, brow furrowing. His right arm was now completely dead. "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry."

"What is it? What's happened?"

"The sting of a Howcrass is poisonous," he explained, losing the strength to sit up now. "Deathly poisonous."

"No..." Rose croaked, staring at him in shock and horror. "Stop messin', that’s not funny!"

He gave a half-smile, then grimaced. "It's slowly killing all of my cells. They're dying. I can't feel my right arm…"

Rose continued to gape at him, clearly finding it hard to take in. "You're... No, no, we can find an antidote!" Rose made to get up and search the medicine cabinets, but Don quickly grabbed her elbow with his already numbing left arm.

"There isn't an antidote…" he muttered, closing his eyes in an attempt to stop the world spinning. "I'm really sorry,” he managed to gasp, before slumping back down onto the bed, losing strength.

"Rose?" the Doctor croaked.

"Doctor!" Rose jumped back over to the other bed in a frenzy. "Doctor, you've gotta help him!"

The Doctor eased open his eyes, looking as though he might pass out again at any moment. "What?"

"Don's dyin'! He's been poisoned! You've gotta do somethin'!"

The Doctor weakly turned his head to the bed next to him, where Don lay moaning softly in pain. He blinked, surprised at the sight.

"Help… me… up…" the Doctor gasped, looking up at Rose desperately. She slipped her arms underneath him, causing him to cry out as he forced himself onto his feet, stumbling over to Don with the added support of Rose. He looked down at Don lying on the bed, the puncture wound open and obvious above his navel.

"I'm sorry," Don whispered, opening his eyes to look at the Doctor. They were so vacant.

"Rose, get… some… water, slows… it… down," the Doctor ordered her, dropping down on the bed next to Don. She rushed off in an instant. "The How…crass?" he asked, and Don nodded.

"It was going for Rose…" he replied, closing his eyes again. "I couldn't…" He gasped, wincing badly. "Couldn't let it…"

The Doctor's hearts simultaneously sank. He knew there was no antidote they could retrieve in time. There was no point trying to deny fate. Don was dying.

"Thank… you," the Doctor said, hand on his own chest.

"Promise me... something," Don said, opening his eyes to look at the Doctor. He was now as white as a sheet as the poison continued to infect every part of his body. "You'll... l-look after her."

The Doctor nodded.

"I know how... how you feel," Don continued, "I’ve got your... your memories, feelings and thoughts… and the Donna p-part of me is screaming to... let them out."

The Doctor could only nod again.

"Make Rose happy... Stop living in... in the past. It's okay, it r-really is…"

The Doctor couldn't bring himself to answer that.

"P-promise me," Don said again.

There was a long pause.

“Oi, spaceman,” Don croaked.

"I… promise…" the Doctor gasped on cue, barely able to look at his metacrisis.

Don nodded approval. "Thank you," he whispered. Then he closed his eyes. For a few moments, nothing happened, so the Doctor reached up to Don's chest, resting his hand on the place of Don’s single human heart. Nothing was thudding against his palm. He checked for a pulse. Nothing.

He was gone.

When Rose returned, the Doctor was straightening Don on the bed in a death posture. She quickly burst into tears.

The Doctor, still pale and weak, drew the shaking Rose into a tight hug. She sobbed unrelentingly, trembling in his arms as he gazed sombrely at his dead metacrisis; the man he had failed to protect.

It was exactly that moment that the Doctor decided he couldn't dance around the topic as he had done for years. He loved Rose, and he knew she loved him. It was time to make the change they'd been denying for so long.

He'd made a promise to a dying man.

He pressed a quick kiss to her lips before abruptly pulling back to check her response. For moment she seemed surprised, but then she reached up to cup his cheek, began to kiss back. They both closed their eyes, indulging in each other, sharing a small moment of love in the midst of their grief.

It was the beginning, the Doctor knew, of the adventure he thought he could never have.

 

 


	2. Three Months Later

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Doctor comes down with a mystery illness.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Smut at the start. You have been warned. :D

"What the hell is this?" Rose asked with an eyebrow raised, pointing at the Doctor's groin.

The Doctor stared at her for a moment, raising an eyebrow. "Did you bunk off of Sex Ed?"

"Doctor, this isn't a penis. This is a didgeridoo."

The Doctor continued to stare at her. "It… um… plays tunes?"

"Doctor, it is bloody  _ huge _ ."

"Oh, right." The Doctor was at a complete loss of what to say next. "… Is that bad?"

She laughed, before moving to straddle him with her arms either side of his body as she gazed down into his eyes. He dully realised he was currently completely naked and pinned down, at the mercy of the ravenous human woman towering over him. "What do you think?" she asked, smiling surreptitiously.

"Well, in the current situation I…" He was cut off in mid-flow as she leaned forward and forced her tongue inside his mouth, not giving him a chance to complete his sentence. She continued to kiss him deeply, exploring every nook and cranny for all the bits of peppermint she said he tasted like for at least two minutes before finally withdrawing, grinning at him like she'd just won the best prize at a raffle.

"Don't you need to breathe?" he asked, panting for air. She ignored him, her hand slowly travelling downwards with her eyes still connected to his. She leaned forward again, pressing dabs of kisses across his hairline and down the side of his face, along his jaw and down his neck, lingering on his Adam's apple before she suddenly stopped, drawing back and looking surprised.

“What?” he asked through heavy breathing.

"You're aroused and I haven't even done anythin' yet!" she realised.

He looked a little guilty. “I sped it up a bit,” he admitted. “Concentration of blood to the groin.”

“Don’t do that,” she said, frowning a little.

“You know how I work, my body doesn’t work like yours. I explained.”

“Yeah, I know, but lemme try at least.”

“You can’t force anything on me, not without lots of practise. Anyway, too late now…” He pointedly looked down to indicate that point, before wrapping one arm around her shoulders and placing the other down by her hip, pushing her over onto her back. "My turn."

She giggled, lying spread-eagled on the bed, inviting him.

"Giving up already?" he asked, fondling her in his hand. She didn't answer as he began to work his magic, tracing his tongue down from her mouth, to her neck, between her breasts and towards her groin. He only needed a minute before she had her first orgasm, and another minute for her second. 

He had to admit, this was a lot easier than he thought it would be. They’d been together for three months, bonded for two of them, but this was the first time they’d actually had sex, and he wasn’t going to admit to her that he’d spent the past month in the TARDIS library relentlessly reading books about how to sexually stimulate a human woman before this encounter. He’d almost been dreading it. He didn’t want to underwhelm her. Sex was important to humans, so if he needed to get anything right to ensure a good relationship it was this.

So thank Rassilon human bodies were so easy. One finger or tongue in exactly the right place at the right time seemed to send her human body into pure ecstasy. Humans were a bit simple, and somewhat obssessed with their reproduction system. But it made her happy.

As he worked she entwined her fingers in his hair, grabbing at the locks. She then tugged and he looked up at her.

"Do it," she gasped, parting her thighs. He moved forward, lingering for a moment, looking at her.

"Are you sure?"

"Do it," she repeated firmly. "Please."

He obediently did the deed, and they fitted like a jigsaw, of course. 

He hadn't done this for a while. He just hadn’t needed or wanted to. It felt a little bit like that time he’d tried to take up tap dancing again after five hundred years. But the physics were all quite simple and straightforward so it wasn’t too difficult to get used to it as he gently began to thrust, savouring every moment that passed. She was the perfect size for him, contracting around him with every forward motion. He progressively began to go faster and harder, checking she still wanted it at every moment, but she was lost in a tide of ecstasy, gripping the duvet tightly and moaning in satisfaction as they moved together in perfect rhythm.

"More," she gasped, having another orgasm.

“No, can’t... hurt you,” he gasped in return.

“C’mon!” she urged, gritting her teeth.

He thrust as hard and as deep as he dared – he desperately didn't want to hurt her – but she still was begging him to continue,  _ faster _ and  _ harder _ . She was groaning a deep, carnal growl, still encouraging him until he was compelled to thrust so hard her entire body was moving progressively towards the headboard. That alarmed him slightly. He tried to slow down and decrease his rhythm, anxious, but she held onto him and forced him into her with every thrust, orgasming again.

"I'm going to climax," he gasped.

"Please, now, now, do it now…" She grabbed him harder, begging him to release himself into her with her groans of pleasure ringing in his ears from yet another orgasm. Within nanoseconds he climaxed inside of her, his flood rushing into her body before they both gasped and spasmed in pleasure and surprise, their breathing stilted and desperate. For a moment neither of them moved but for panting for air as he continued to pour into her, trying to recover their senses before he finished spilling and pulled himself out of her, his fluids dripping down from her as he rolled onto his side, holding himself. 

He looked at her, still needing air, worried. “Okay?” he asked nervously.

She smiled and curled into his naked body, legs entwining in his. “Love you,” she breathed.

"Love you too," he whispered back, pulling her close and pressing a kiss to her forehead.

It was the first time he’d told her that. And it  _ felt _ so  _ right. _

* * *

Rose marched into the TARDIS' first sitting room, spotting the Doctor lying on his back on the sofa with his glasses perched on his nose, obviously deeply engrossed in a book. She walked over to him and in moments was sitting in a straddle on his pelvis. She reached for his book, swiftly plucking it out of his grip with one hand and pulling off his glasses with the other, throwing them on the coffee table beside them.

The Doctor blinked, surprised as he looked up at Rose with his hands still clutching an imaginary book. "Hey!" he said indignantly. "I was reading that!"

"Not anymore you're not," Rose replied with a smirk. "I want a baby."

He blinked again, somehow looking even more surprised than before. "What?"

"I want a baby," she repeated.

"You mean one of those screaming pooing crying things?"

"Yeah, one of them," she replied, blasé.

"… Why?" he asked, bewildered.

"Cos I've been feelin' really needy recently, like there's somethin' missin', and I think I’ve figured out what it is. I'm broody."

"Broody," the Doctor repeated slowly. "Rose, you do realise the reason I don’t use condoms is because we’re not even fertile together?”

“There must be a way of doin’ it, you’ve got test tubes.”

“Despite popular assumption, test tubes don’t make babies. Besides, do you know how many changes we'd have to make to our lives if we had a baby?"

"It'll be fine," she fobbed off.

"Even if we are fertile together, which I doubt, we'd have to stop travelling for a while when you get big. We'd need actual real medical assistance with the birth. Not to mention the sleepless nights, the midnight feedings, and the endless trips to Sainbury’s to buy nappies... Then there's the education when it gets older… We can't exactly walk into a school and say 'hi, can you teach my alien baby'!"

"Doctor…"

"Then the endless singing of the Haribo jingle, the pleading of buying all the toys it sees on TV… Never shutting up, waddling around drinking toilet cleaner, chewing wires and falling over and crying and destroying my Tardis in the process, can you really see yourself running away from the Daleks with a baby carrier?"

"Doctor!"

"Then the teenage years! Rose! All those hormones bouncing around, arguments and relationships, gangs, drugs and teen pregnancy! Could you handle that? Could you really?"

"Doctor!"

The Doctor blinked, looking back at Rose as he finally processed what he'd said. He looked utterly mortified. "I've become… a human!"

Rose laughed, rolling her eyes and pressing a kiss to his lips. He kissed back, cupping her face in both hands delicately, gazing into her eyes.

"Wanna watch a film?" she asked suddenly.

The Doctor stared at her. “Wait, you’re changing the subject? Just like that?”

“We can talk about it later.”

"But I thought we were going to…"

Rose rolled her eyes again. "Seein’ as you have every film ever made, how about Titanic?"

He groaned loudly.

"That's a no then… James Bond?"

"Been marathoning them whilst you're asleep," the Doctor admitted.

"Err… Harry Potter?"

"Which one?"

"Umm… Deathly Hallows Part Two."

He eyes narrowed at her. "Spoilers!"

She sighed. "Oh, come on, I've read the book!"

He looked at her pouted lip and puppy eyes for a moment as she threw love at him through the bond, before resigning and sighing loudly.

"Oh, fine. But don't tell anyone I let you see it."

She grinned, tongue between teeth. She set the film to play on the Doctor's high-tech system before moving back over to the sofa, lying down in front of him as he put his arms around her.

"You're getting too good at handling this bond, you know…" the Doctor said, almost fearfully. She smiled and turned her head back towards him, kissing his nose before turning back over to watch the film.

* * *

Three hours later and the film drew to a close, and Rose had only just cleared up her tears The room was dark save for the artificial fire crackling in the corner; the atmosphere making Rose drowsy. She turned over to look at the Doctor who had ceased making critical comments halfway through the film to find him sound asleep. He didn't snore. Another Time Lord biology function that scored a point for him over humans.

She was far too comfortable to move so she pulled a blanket from off of the back of the sofa, throwing it over the both of them and turning to snuggle into him before dropping away quickly into a peaceful sleep.

* * *

When Rose woke up, it was light. To her utmost surprise the Doctor's arm was still around her. She flipped over to look at him – he was still asleep.

"Doctor."

He didn't answer. That was odd. Normally he’d be up, running around throwing toast and coffee in her general direction. She shrugged and got to her feet, tucking the blanket around his sleeping form and lifting his head carefully, slipping a cushion under it. He didn't even stir.

She went to make breakfast for them both. She wasn't feeling particularly creative so she did some marmalade toast, purposely stacking it high. For a skinny man he sure could eat.

She took the racks of toast and two cups of tea on a tray back to the sitting room where the Doctor was still sleeping. She set the tray down on the table next to the abandoned book and glasses, sitting on the sofa and reaching up to brush back his hair from his eyes. To her alarm she found his skin was hot to the touch. It was then she realised his forehead was sweaty, his face flushed red.

"Doctor," she said gently, giving him a small shake. "Wake up."

He slowly rose to awareness, yawning and mumbling incoherently all the way.

"Hello," Rose said gently. "I think you're runnin' a fever."

"Don't be silly," the Doctor grumbled, struggling to push himself to sit up. "Time Lords don't get fevers."

“Well this one has all the symptoms of it," Rose replied, helping him up. "I made you some tea but I doubt you'll want that now. Lemme get you some water..."

"I'm fine," the Doctor answered, almost rudely. He lunged for the toast rack, wobbling slightly before grabbing a piece and customarily devouring it in two bites.

"Can you check yourself over in the infirmary?" she asked.

He gave her a look, as though she'd just dribbled on her shirt. "Rose, I'm fine, really..." He suddenly trailed off, looking extremely green. Rose raised her eyebrows as he dived for the nearest bin where he promptly began to make hurling sounds.

"Now will you check yourself over?" Rose asked seriously as he brought his head back up, looking even worse than before. Amazingly, he still shook his head.

"Really Rose," he said with a sigh, using the table to push himself to his feet after a small battle with his centre of balance. "Just because I'm sleepy, nauseous, dizzy, feverish and about to faint doesn't mean..."

Rose watched, not able to catch him in time as he faltered, blinked a few times and slumped forward onto the floor, unconscious.

 

 


	3. Cheese Apple Muffins

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sarah Jane arrives and helps to treat a feverish Doctor.

"Oh yeah, Mr I'm Not Sick," Rose was saying insincerely as the Doctor slowly dragged himself back through the murky fog to consciousness. "You only went and picked up Venusian Influenza. We haven't even _been_ to Venus!"

The Doctor opened his heavy eyes, realising that somehow he was now lying haphazardly on the infirmary scanner with Rose pulling up the glass shield that covered him. "Huh?" he asked drowsily.

"The scanner says you have Venusian Flu," she told him gently, brushing her hand through his hair.

"We haven't even been to Venus," the Doctor said tiredly.

She rolled her eyes. "Yeah, what I just said. That's what the scanner says you have."

"I can't _get_ Venusian Flu!" the Doctor insisted, throwing his arms up in the air and as a consequence almost falling off of the scanner. Rose caught him, making sympathetic noises.

"Well, you obviously have," Rose replied, slipping her arm around him and helping him to stand up. He was heavily leaning on her, relying on her strength. "Maybe it mutated or somethin'."

"Rose, I _do not_ have Venusian Flu!" the Doctor almost yelled, wiping the building sweat from his forehead as she led him over to one of the Infirmary beds.

"Come on, get into bed," she urged.

"I refuse!" The Doctor tried to pulled away from her but he was already faltering, managing to shrug her off for two seconds before he collapsed back down onto the floor on all fours, head spinning like a fairground ride. Rose knelt down next to him, but he quickly pushed her away as he retched - bringing up the morning's breakfast all over the bed and the floor. He panted heavily, dropping to lean back against the nearby bed before his tired eyes flickered up to Rose.

"Okay, so maybe I'm a _little_ under the weather,” he admitted smally.

Rose sighed, rolling her eyes as she pulled him up onto the bed not half-covered in Time Lord vomit.

"Get undressed while I clean this up, yeah?" Rose said, gesturing to the mess he'd made as he fell back on the bed, curling in on himself.

"Rose, I'm going to throw up again."

"Bloody hell, Doctor," Rose grunted as she dived for the nearest bowl-shaped object, which happened to be a kidney bowl, shoving it under his chin. She only just about avoided putting her foot in the mess. True to his word, he threw up again seconds later.

"This isn't fair!" the Doctor moaned loudly when Rose returned with a mop. "Why is this happening? I _never_ throw up..."

"Doctor," Rose said firmly when she finished cleaning it up and had washed her hands. "I dunno much about Venusian Flu, but I do know flu, like on Earth, is..."

"I _do not_ have Venusian Flu!" the Doctor insisted before he promptly threw up again. "It's impossible. Completely impossible. I am immune to almost every disease in the known universe due to an incredibly efficient Gallifreyan immune system. I can't have Venusian Flu. It's impossible."

"Well whatever it is, it's makin' you pretty sick so get some rest," she reached over to him, rubbing his back gently in a comforting motion. "All done throwin' up?"

He nodded, pushing the bowl away from himself. Rose took it, crinkling her nose in disgust and holding it at arm's length before she disappeared out the door again. When she got back the Doctor was lying on the bed in his undershirt and boxers, staring blankly up at the ceiling.

"I don't like being ill," he muttered as Rose pulled the covers over him, pressing a kiss to his forehead and smiling gently. At least she could still touch him, Venusian Flu wasn't contagious in any shape or form.

"Just get some rest," Rose repeated for what seemed like the 98th time, before adding, "before I strangle you."

The Doctor sighed, closing his eyes. He could feel Rose's hand stroking his hair, pressing a kiss to his forehead every now and then, soothing him. Slowly but surely, he dropped off to sleep.

* * *

 

The Doctor slowly began to feel worse and worse over the course of the day. He'd stopped throwing up within a free hours but his fever had become slowly worse. By 5pm Rose was placing cold flannels all over his body in a desperate attempt to keep his temperature down as he sweated profusely, fading in and out of consciousness.

Every time Rose left to get a snack or a drink the TARDIS would alert her to the Doctor's need and she'd return to find him in the midst of a coughing fit. She'd manage to calm him down enough to get back to what she had been doing, but then the commotion would just start up again ten minutes later.

On the third day of his illness he began to hallucinate. He called Rose by a variety of names, none of which her own. The medicines to cure Venusian Flu weren't working – perhaps he'd been right. Maybe it was something much more serious than Venusian Flu? For the first time in three days of it she began to think about the possibility that he may not be able to pull through this.

She could feel his body's distress through the bond that existed between them, feel his struggle, and it was making her less and less optimistic. On top of all of this she hadn't slept properly for the three days and she knew she couldn't go on for much longer like this.

* * *

 

A whole week had passed. The Doctor barely had enough strength to open his eyes and threw up everything he ate. Her thoughts had turned to regeneration many times – could he regenerate like this? Did he have to be coherent? If he died...

She tried not to think about it, but the inevitability of it all was quite clearly setting in.

On the evening on the seventh day she was walking back from the infirmary ready to fall into bed and never wake up when a loud piercing beeping suddenly started up from down the corridor. She could hardly ignore it, so she followed the sound down the corridor and emerged into the console room where the Doctor was standing next to the pilot's seat, hands in his pockets.

Of course, it wasn't really him. Binary code ran up and down him, the hologram simulation flickering every now and then in and out of existence. It was an emergency program like she had hoped to never see again.

" _Hello!"_ the Doctor said, beaming happy. _"This is emergency program err... 999. Wow, really? 999? That's a great number for an emergency program! Err, anyway, sensors detect that I've been infected with something pretty bad that I may not be able to bounce back from so this emergency program is going to take you home."_

"Home," Rose repeated in disbelief. "Doctor, in case you haven't noticed, the Tardis _is_ my home!"

" _There you go, off complaining."_

"I have a reason!"

" _There's no need to shout!"_

Rose sighed, hand on her forehead. "You're unbelievable."

" _Aren't I just,"_ the Doctor replied, smiling. _"Anyway Martha, this should take you back home, ready for the possibility that I might... err... y'know. Kick the bucket. Take care of yourself."_

The hologram blipped out of existence. Rose could only stare in disbelief as the TARDIS suddenly launched into action, the time rotor pulsating up and down with buttons flashing of their own accord. Seconds later she landed with a bone-crunching jolt, clinging to the console in a desperate attempt to stay upright. Martha? He hadn't updated his hologram simulator since _Martha?_

Then a thought struck her. Maybe Martha could help him? She _was_ a doctor after all, and she knew a bit about the Doctor's physiology. If she could find Martha...

Rose rushed out of the double blue doors, emerging into a well-kept street in the height of summer. The TARDIS was standing in someone's back garden. Martha's? Only one way to find out...

She glanced back through the double blue doors, biting her lip. Would the Doctor be okay whilst she was gone? Would the bond let her know? She impulsively rested a hand on the TARDIS, who thrummed deliberately beneath her palm, seemingly reassuring her that she'd let her know if something happened.

She closed the TARDIS door and made her way around to the front door of the house, her finger pressing on the doorbell. She waited. Nothing happened. She pressed again. Nothing. She opened the letterbox and peeked through to find a pile of letters building on the floor below the letterbox. She and the Doctor had gone to Martha and Tom's wedding; they were probably on their honeymoon.

So, no Martha. She headed back to the TARDIS, re-emerging into the console room, the TARDIS greeting her warmly with a flood of beeps and clicks, but the hope that had been born inside of Rose had quickly died. Without Martha she was back to square one.

Then the phone on the console started ringing.

She dived for it instantly, somehow seeking the voice of another since the Doctor was babbling incoherently half the time. She pressed it to her ear.

"Hello?"

" _Rose, it's Sarah Jane,"_ the woman said on the other end of the line. _"You rang me?"_

Rose frowned. "I didn't..." Then she had a thought. "I think the Tardis did. I need help, Sarah..."

" _What's wrong?"_

"It's the Doctor, he's really sick..."

" _Where are you?"_

"Martha's house, she's not in..." She could feel herself beginning to cry as the situation suddenly seemed to overwhelm her from out of nowhere. "Please help, I don't know what to do."

Sarah remained perfectly calm. _"Can the Doctor fly the TARDIS here?"_

Rose sniffed, wiping her eyes. "No..."

" _Okay, I'll come to you. Stay calm and just look after him until I get there."_

She nodded, as if Sarah Jane could actually see her. "Thank you."

* * *

 

"I like cheesecake," the Doctor was saying tiredly, "with the... cheese. Cheddar. Apples are nice. So are muffins. Rose, have you ever had a cheese apple muffin?"

Rose forced a smile, pecking a kiss to his lips. "No, Doctor."

"Kronkburgers are nice. Hehe, kronk konk lonk bonk... hehe... bonk..." He giggled in the midst of pure delirium. "Bonk's a funny word. I don't feel good, Rose." He paused, thinking about that for a moment. "Feel all hot." He paused again, frowning. "You're hot, Rose. I love blonde hair. Even fake blonde hair. It's hot. You're hot."

Rose didn't really know whether to laugh or cry. Thankfully she was saved when a voice sounded from somewhere in the TARDIS:

"Rose?"

She bolted upright, suddenly alert. "Sarah?"

The Doctor, as if on cue, launched into a chain of hacking coughs. Rose soothed him, all the while calling Sarah towards their location. Eventually she appeared in the doorway, pausing to observe the Doctor in the midst of a coughing fit. After a moment he looked up, spreading a broad, if exhausted grin at Sarah.

"Hullo Sarah Jane," he said, collapsing back onto the bed. "You look nice in pink."

Sarah paused, looking down at herself. She wasn't wearing any pink. "Thank you, Doctor," she replied, smiling.

"That's okay," the Doctor replied, yawning widely. "Where's my daisy... Is it with my shoes? Shoes..."

"How long has he been like this?" Sarah Jane asked, moving forward and resting her hand on the Doctor's forehead. He was dangerously hot for a Time Lord.

"A week," Rose replied. "The scanner says he has Venusian Flu but the medicines aren't workin'... he's just gettin' worse."

"Try the cabinet over there." Sarah indicted across the room. "Look for a vial of green liquid, and the needle gun."

"The needle gun?" Rose queried.

"Looks like a gun without a chamber," Sarah explained, checking the Doctor's hearts.

Rose obliged, hunting down what Sarah had asked. In seconds she was back by the bedside, holding out the equipment to Sarah.

"This should bring his fever down," Sarah informed Rose calmly as she connected the tube of green liquid to the gun and pressed it to the Doctor's arm. As she pulled the trigger it clicked and hissed, the green liquid disappearing from within the tube.

"Will it cure him?" Rose asked anxiously watching the Doctor's face as he closed his eyes once more, humming the Teletubbies theme song to himself.

Sarah shook her head, putting the needle gun on a side tray. "It will just suppress his symptoms until we can find out what's really going on. He'll need two doses of this every day, one at breakfast and one at dinner."

"Where did you learn all this?"

"Travelling with him. There wasn't an adventure where he didn't get in a mess. At least he hasn't talked about the treacle well yet," she replied, smiling. "You look exhausted, go get some rest. I'll look after the Doctor," she added on the end as she caught Rose's expression. "He'll be fine."

 


	4. NHS Direct

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Doctor wakes up, but doesn't know what is causing him to be so ill. Jack calls from Torchwood, begging the Doctor to visit him quickly.

The moment she woke up eight hours later, Rose ran for the infirmary. She found the Doctor sitting up under his own power, perfectly awake and coherent. He was chatting animatedly to Sarah as Rose entered, before grinning like a loon at his partner and giving a wave.

"You look like you just got dragged backwards through a hedge," the Doctor said bluntly, staring at her unkempt hair.

Rose playfully slapped him on the shoulder before sitting on the bed next to him and taking him into a hug. "How you feelin'?"

"Much better," the Doctor replied, still grinning from ear to ear. "Told you it's not Venusian Flu."

"Do you know what it is?" Rose asked, drawing back to look him in the eyes seriously.

He shook his head, pausing for a moment, as if deciding whether to continue or not. Rose could feel his anxiety and the battle inside his mind so she nudged him. "What?"

"My... my immune system isn't fighting it."

Sarah stared at him. "You mean it isn't an infection?"

He shook his head again, glancing between the two women. "Or at least, my immune system doesn't recognise it as an infection."

"But what does that mean?" Rose asked, suddenly tense.

"It means that whatever's happening is... well... it seems to be a natural biological process..." He was acutely aware of both women staring at him unblinkingly. "There's nothing we can do except suppress the symptoms. If it's a natural process then we can only let it run its course and see what happens..."

They were still staring at him. He tugged on his shirt collar uncomfortably, avoiding their gaze.

"I don't know, really, I don't," he said, and then launched into another chesty coughing fit. Rose instinctively launched forward to soothe him before he finished and collapsed back onto the pillows, exhausted.

"Get some sleep," Rose said gently, pressing a kiss to his forehead. "If it's a natural process then it can't be bad, yeah? You've still got a couple of regenerations left."

Without another word he nodded, and closed his eyes.

* * *

 

Captain Jack Harkness was alone in the Torchwood base.

With Martha on her honeymoon, Gwen on maternity leave and Mickey and Ianto somewhere down the sewers he had been left alone at the Torchwood base for what seemed like forever.

It gave him the opportunity to catch up on some paperwork, however. It wasn't that he disliked paperwork, it was just every time he sat down at his desk hostile aliens decided to try and take over Cardiff and he was up again in a shot.

But now he was alone in the base on a Sunday afternoon, pretty much 100 percent sure that he was going to get everything done.

The Torchwood base door suddenly rolled back. Jack sat up, alert. Were Mickey and Ianto back early? He peered through his office window to the floor below. There was a figure lying on the floor apparently crawling, dressed in a dishevelled brown suit, smeared with mud and dirt and...

Jack's heart skipped a beat.

"Doctor?"

He ran down the stairs and into the main Hub quicker than lightning to find the Doctor crawling along the floor, leaving a trail of blood in his wake.

"Doctor! What the hell?" Jack dropped down next to him, at a loss for what to do. The Doctor grunted in pain and reached up to Jack, clutching desperately onto his shirt with weak arms.

"Jack... Jack I need... I need... the Doctor..."

Jack stared at him, not quite comprehending what was happening. "Doctor, what the hell is going on? Who hurt you?"

"Please," the Doctor gasped, blood coursing down the side of his face. He was unshaven, pale, weak, broken and bruised all over, and Jack was terrified. "I need... the Doctor..."

"Doctor, where's Rose? Is Rose here? Where is she?"

The Doctor didn't answer. Instead he fell unconscious, sagging into Jack's arms.

* * *

 

A couple of hours later Rose and Sarah Jane retreated to the kitchen for a cup of tea whilst the Doctor was asleep. It was small chat for a while until the conversation turned to the questions Sarah had been burning to ask, but had been too polite to.

"So where's the Doctor's clone? Don, wasn't it?" Sarah asked.

Rose fell into silence, looking sidewards at the floor.

"He... he died," she muttered.

"I'm sorry," Sarah said gently, resting her hand on Rose's.

"It's okay," she said, nursing her cup of tea. "He was stung by a Howcrass. We couldn't do anythin'... he died in ten minutes."

"At least it was quick," Sarah said, offering a smile. "Did he suffer?"

"No." She paused. "He saved my life."

Sarah nodded solemnly. "What about Donna?" she asked. She caught Rose's next expression. "You don't have to tell me about it if you don't want to."

Rose steeled herself. "She couldn't handle having a Time Lord brain. The Doctor had to wipe her memory of her ever travellin' with him. He broke down about it, but we helped him through."

"Was that when you and the Doctor...?"

Rose shook her head. "That was after Don died. I think he said somethin' to the Doctor, cos the day after he asked me to bond with him."

"What is this bonding thing?"

"I dunno really, it's a Gallifreyan thing. The Doctor said it's what Gallifreyans did instead of marryin', except you can't divorce if it all goes wrong in the middle. It's like... our souls are merged. He can feel what I feel, I feel what he feels. Even cravings. You wouldn't believe how many times a day the Doctor craves marmalade..."

Sarah laughed at that, before becoming solemn once more. "What can you feel now?"

"Now he's ill I can just feel his body's distress. He's strugglin'."

Sarah offered a reassuring smile. "He will be okay, He always is. And he's got us to look after him, hasn't he?"

Rose returned the smile, if but a little weak. "Yeah."

"Did your Mum go back to the parallel world?" Sarah asked, before she quickly put her hand over her mouth in an 'oops' motion. "All these questions! I'm sorry, I can't help it, it's the journalist in me."

Rose smiled again before continuing, "Mum went back to the parallel world. Tony and Dad and the mansion are there. She's happy, that's all that matters. I do get to see them sometimes when a hole opens up, but we only have about twenty minutes until the Doctor has to seal it up. Fate of the Universe or somethin'. You know what he's like."

"But you're happy? With the Doctor?"

Rose nodded quickly. "I love him, bein' with him was all I ever wanted, and now I've got it. Yeah, I'm happy."

Before Sarah had the chance to say anything else the Doctor appeared in the kitchen doorway, yawning and stretching widely dressed in a t-shirt and boxers. He opened his eyes again, his gaze eventually connecting with Sarah. His eyes opened Bambi-wide.

"Sarah!" he yelped, searching for something to cover himself with but finding nothing, so he used his hands instead. "I forgot you were here!"

Sarah resisted the urge to laugh. "Doctor, I'm 58, I've seen it all before," she assured him and he quickly relaxed, sighing in relief as Rose giggled, loudly. He shot the younger woman a glare before dropping down into one of the seats, reaching forward to the plate of biscuits in the centre and shoving three into his gob at once.

"What?" he asked innocently as they stared on in amusement.

"Feelin' better then?" Rose enquired.

He nodded enthusiastically. "I could run a marathon." He paused, thinking about this. "Well I could if I could stop to have a coughing fit every ten minutes..."

_Ring, ring._

The Doctor blinked, looking surprised at the strange new sound that had interrupted his would-be rant.

_Ring, ring._

"What is that?" he asked.

"It's your phone, Doctor," Rose replied, sticking her tongue out.

He raised an eyebrow at her. "I know that, cheeky."

_Ring, ring._

"I heard it ringing earlier too..." the Doctor muttered, glancing at Sarah. "What is this, NHS Direct?"

The two women laughed as the Doctor pushed himself up out of his seat again, disappearing out the door. Wordlessly they both followed him through the corridors into the console room just in time to see him pick up the phone.

"Hello?"

" _Doctor, is that you?"_

"Who else?" the Doctor replied, beaming happy at Sarah and Rose lingering next to him as he perched himself onto the console.

" _Doctor, listen. You have to come to Cardiff."_

"Why? What's wrong?"

" _It's you. It's you from another time or something, you just wandered into Torchwood, bleeding to death, dragging yourself along the floor. You kept asking for you, then you collapsed."_

The Doctor's smile quickly fell as Sarah and Rose watched on, confused.

"Where am I now?"

" _Lying in the medbay. I'm all alone here, I don't know what to do!"_

"Calm down, Jack. We'll be right there, okay? Keep him warm and stop any bleeding."

" _Hurry!"_

Rose and Sarah were both staring at him inquisitively as he hung up, springing to his feet with his brow furrowing.

"What is it?" Rose asked quickly.

The Doctor evaded the question. "Get dressed. We have to get to Torchwood, now."

 


	5. Double Doctor Trouble

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The badly-injured future Doctor has a panic attack as Rose ponders just how he got into this state. The Doctor helped his future self into a healing coma.

Jack was staring at the body lying on the table of the medical room, trying to calm down.

The Doctor he was looking at was perfectly still, his chest rising and falling periodically. He looked like the result of a horrific car crash. His hair was long and matted, stubble coating his chin. His clothes were tattered and covered in dirt and blood. There were more blood soaked cloths on parts of his body where Jack had tried in vain to stop him bleeding but was failing, dismally.

What had happened to him? Jack recognised some of the injuries as purposefully inflicted. It looked like he'd been tortured, badly...

Obviously it was an alternate version of the Doctor... The Donna-Human hybrid? One from the future? Or past? Where was Rose?

_Come on Doctor..._

The moment he thought that he suddenly heard the sound of the TARDIS churning into existence from somewhere in the main Hub. He quickly rushed out just in time to encounter the Doctor stepping out of the TARDIS, closely followed by Rose and Sarah Jane. Jack quickly took in his pale face and the bags under his eyes.

"You look like crap," he commented.

"Good to see you too, Jack," the Doctor replied airily. "Where is he?"

"In the medbay..."

The Doctor led the way to the aforementioned room, flying down the steps and arriving to stand next to his double. He quickly checked his double's pulse and heart rates before moving to the nearest cupboard for medical equipment.

"What happened?" the Doctor asked as he worked on stopping the bleeding.

"I was just in my office, doing some paperwork when the Hub door rolled back, I looked down and he was crawling across the floor, trailing blood..." He swallowed, as if recalling the memory was painful. "I ran down, asked him what was going on, where Rose was... but then he passed out."

"Anything else?"

"He kept asking to see you."

The Doctor nodded, pulling the unconscious double's shirt back and cleaning the wounds. "Did he say what he wanted?"

"No."

"Okay," the Doctor replied simply, stitching up the lacerations. "Can you get me a cup of tea?"

For the first time since they entered the Hub, Jack smiled, and disappeared to the kitchen.

"Can I help?" Rose asked, moving forward.

"Apply pressure here." The Doctor indicated a point on his double's upper left chest. "Sarah, are you okay to help?"

She nodded, moving forward. "What do I do?"

"Can you bandage up his left arm? I've cleaned it."

"Who is he, Doctor?" Rose asked, unable to contain her curiosities any longer as Jack returned with the requested tea.

"I don't know," the Doctor replied. "An alternate version of me from another point in the timeline..." He paused, staring down at the mess of a man on the table. "The future, maybe."

"Why is he here?"

The Doctor didn't have an answer.

* * *

 

In ten minutes the double was fully cleaned and bandaged, revealing some rather spectacular bruises over his skin. Just as the Doctor was finishing up the double shifted slightly, groaning.

"Hello?" the Doctor asked, leaning over him.

The double's eyes shot open.

"No! NO! Please!" He suddenly and forcefully pushed the Doctor away, who stumbled clumsily backwards into a cabinet. Empty medicine phials and metal containers crashed down onto his head. Not acknowledging this, the double pushed himself off of the table but his legs seemed to collapsed from beneath him, sending him smacking hard into the ground. He crawled across the floor using his arms until he reached the wall where he clutched his hand to his chest, panting and gasping for air.

"Doctor!" Rose yelled, kneeling down next to her Doctor, careful to avoid the shards of glass. He was out cold.

"Doctor, calm down, it's us!" Jack moved forward to the figure, who was shaking and sweating in the corner. As he approached the man suddenly tensed. In the blink of an eye he'd grabbed a metal tray from the table next to him and thrown it blindly across the room. Sarah cried out in alarm, ducking just in time before it smashed into the wall behind her.

"That's it!" Jack moved forward and grabbed the Doctor's double roughly, pinning his arms to his side. The double struggled in Jack's grip, crying out and yelling for Jack to let him go. Jack ignored him, dragging him up the stairs.

"Doctor," Rose called again, shaking him. The Doctor's brow furrowed as he slowly came to, blinking up at Rose and Sarah. He suddenly stiffened.

"Where is he?"

"Jack took him..." Sarah began, but the Doctor was already using Rose to get to his feet, his eyes wide.

"He'd better not be doing what I think he's doing..." the Doctor muttered, hand held to his head as he staggered up the stairs in pursuit of Jack.

 

* * *

 

Jack dragged the fighting Doctor down to the Torchwood cells, past the weevils until he came to a free cell. He threw him in, slamming the door shut again. The man in the cell didn't get up. He laid on the floor where Jack had thrown him, perfectly still.

He suddenly raised his head, looking at his surroundings. He visibly stiffened. Suddenly he was gasping and panting again, curling in on himself, shaking badly.

"Jack! Get him out!" a voice yelled – the Doctor, closely pursued by Rose and Sarah. Jack turned to find him running down the corridor towards him, his hand on his head. "Get him out, now!"

Jack barely had time to register what was going on as the Doctor run past him to the cell door, tugging on it desperately. Jack opened it for him and he ran in, dropping down next to his double.

"Rose, I need you!" the Doctor yelled. Obediently Rose ran down the corridor and into the cell door, dropping down next to him. Right before their eyes the double suddenly went completely limp.

"Oh no... get back," the Doctor warned, pushing Rose back to the wall of the cell.

"What is it?" Rose asked, but she didn't have to wait long to find out. The double suddenly began to have a violent seizure on the floor, muscles contracting of their own accord. Sarah gasped, her hand over her mouth as both Jack and Rose stared on in shock and confusion.

Thirty seconds had gone before the double finally fell still. The Doctor moved forward once more, checking his breathing and pulse. He quickly took off his coat, folding it up and slipping it under his double's head.

"Rose, comfort him," he ordered her. Rose unquestionably obeyed. She would've have asked why, but she could see and feel the anger inside of him and didn't particularly want to irritate him anymore than he already was. The Doctor stood up, turning to Jack with a look of thunder on his face. "Why did you do that!?" he yelled.

"He nearly hurt Sarah!" Jack protested, but the Doctor's expression made him feel eight inches tall.

"He was having a panic attack!" the Doctor yelled back. "He's been tortured within an inch of his life and then _you_ decide to stick him in a small cell!"

Jack didn't really know what to say. "Doctor, I'm sorry."

The Doctor glared at him for a moment before turning away, dropping back down next to Rose.

"He was tortured?" Rose asked the Doctor quietly, brushing back the double's hair.

The Doctor nodded, trying in vain to suppress his anger at Jack. "His injuries are the work of torture tools. He's been tortured constantly for at least three months. He probably only just managed to escape." He paused, swallowing. "I think he's from the future. This is a future me..."

Rose's voice was barely audible. "But if this is a future you... where am I?"

The Doctor didn't reply.

"No... no... don't... please..." The Doctor's double was coming around again. This time the Doctor gestured for Rose to take care of him, whilst he himself backed away.

"It's okay, Doctor. You're safe," Rose said gently, still stroking back his hair.

"Rose?" the double murmured, opening his eyes.

"It's okay, I'm here, you're safe." She could feel oncoming tears.

"Am I dead?" he whispered.

"No," Rose replied. "You made it out."

The Doctor moved forward, placing himself in his double's vision. "You found me."

The double's eyes lit up. "I need to talk to you... before it's too late."

"First you need to heal," the Doctor said seriously. "You have severe spinal and neural damage. You can't feel your legs, can you?"

The double shook his head. "They're completely numb."

"You need to go into a healing coma," the Doctor said.

The double nodded. "I need some help."

"I can give you that." The Doctor looked back at Jack. "Have you got any proper beds here?"

Jack nodded, avoiding the Doctor's gaze. He automatically moved forward, reaching out to take the double. The double immediately tensed, his eyes wide and terrified. Rose quickly rested a hand on his battered face, shushing him.

"It's okay," she assured him. "You're okay. It's just Jack. You remember Jack, yeah?"

He nodded slowly, still clearly panicking inside but obviously doing his best to suppress it. After a moment Rose gestured for Jack to move forward. Carefully and slowly, Jack slipped his arms underneath the double and lifted him into the air, carrying him back up the corridor to the main Hub. Rose followed, leaving Sarah and the Doctor to confer.

"It's really not Jack's fault," Sarah said gently, resting her hand on the Doctor's arm. "He panicked. It nearly hit me."

He nodded, running his hand back through his hair. "I know. I'll say sorry."

 

* * *

 

Rose had helped the double change out of his blood-soaked clothes and into some fresh pyjamas from Jack’s room. At least when she was there he wasn't panicking; just gazing at her as though she were his only source of light in the world.

When she was done she turned to leave and get her Doctor, but the double suddenly stopped her, his eyes shining. "Rose..."

"Yeah?"

"I'm sorry."

"What for?"

"So much," he breathed. "For what I did. For what I didn't do. That you've seen me like this. I never meant for you to..."

"Hey, don’t worry," she interrupted him smoothly, offering him a grin. "It's okay. I don't care."

For the first time, Rose saw him smile. It wasn’t as bright as she knew it, though. Something had changed about him. Well, it was no wonder.

“Did you really…” she began, paused, and then gathered herself before completing her question. “Did you really get tortured?”

He nodded silently.

She impulsively reached forward and held him, cradling his head against her shoulder. He just breathed in the silence, closing his eyes. When they finally parted she pushed back his hair from his eyes and pecked a kiss to his forehead, smiling at him.

"I love you," he whispered, gazing at her.

“Love you too,” she replied, frowning a little. “Look… I’ll just get the Doctor.”

“Thank you,” he breathed, still not taking his eyes off of her as she left.

 

* * *

 

She met her Doctor just outside the room, and immediately hugged him.

“What?” he asked.

“Nothin’,” she insisted, still hugging him tightly.

“It’s something,” he said seriously.

“He’s just… he’s so like you,” Rose muttered, still not letting go.

“I know,” he said. “Time travel works like that.”

She drew back and slapped him lightly on the arm. “Hey!” she laughed. “Look, it’s just…”

“I know,” he said again.

“Do you?”

“Yes. It’s me but it’s not me,” he said meekly.

“Yeah.”

“Just think of it like… have you ever read the Time Traveller’s Wife?”

“Of course.”

“Well, it’s like that.”

“Oh. Okay.”

“... That didn’t help, did it?”

“Not really.”

“Didn’t think it would,” the Doctor confessed.

“He said he loved me.”

“Well, he does,” the Doctor told her honestly.

“I know but I… I told him I loved him too but it felt like I was cheatin’ on you or somethin’,” she replied, laughing slightly.

“He’s just me,” the Doctor insisted. “Say what you like to him. Treat him like me.”

“I know, it’s just…” she trailed off, frowning.

“Confusing,” the Doctor completed for her. “It’s fine. You’re doing a good job.”

“I hope so,” she muttered.

“You are,” the Doctor insisted.

“What d’you think happened to him?”

“I don’t know,” the Doctor confessed. “But after the healing coma he can tell us himself.”

She nodded.

 

* * *

 

The Doctor could feel his fever coming back as he rested his fingers on his double's temples, guiding him into his healing coma. Finally it was triggered as his double sank into oblivion, and the Doctor turned to the other three.

"He won't wake up until tomorrow afternoon. By then he should be able to walk again. Then I can find out what's happening here."

They nodded together.

"You need your meds, then you need to nap," Rose said truthfully, feeling his body's distress coming back as his fever took hold again. "I'll get them." She rushed off before the Doctor could get a word in edgeways.

Sarah glanced between the Doctor and Jack, giving the Doctor a pointed stare. "I'll go and get some tea." She left, leaving Jack and the Doctor alone.

"I'm sorry," the Doctor said after a moment's silence. "I know you were just trying to help."

"It's okay," Jack fobbed off, waving a hand. "You're sick?"

The Doctor nodded. "I don't know what it..." he managed to interrupt himself with a well-timed coughing fit. Jack quickly moved forward to support him as he coughed chestily, sounding as though he were about to bring up a lung.

When he finished Jack led him wordlessly out into the Hub, meeting Rose coming the other way, the needle gun in hand.

"Coughing fit," Jack explained quickly when Rose caught sight of the Doctor leaning heavily on him. "Do it in the medical room."

Ten minutes later and they were all sat in one of the TARDIS sitting rooms watching Shrek on the big screen, the Doctor fast asleep on Rose's lap.

 


	6. The Future

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Doctor finds out his future, and what is making him so sick.

" _This is a future me..."_

The words had been circling around in Rose's head since the Doctor had said them. She was terrified. If it was a future version of him then was it _her_ Doctor's destiny to be tortured like he had?

She still didn't know where the future version of her was, but she could only think the worst. The look in his eyes when he'd seen her...

She unintentionally shuddered beneath the covers of the Doctor's double bed, glancing sideways at the man himself. To her complete surprise she found he was awake and staring at her. He shifted towards her, kissing her gently and pulling her close into a tight embrace. She trembled in his grip, feeling fairly sure she was about to cry.

"It's okay," the Doctor muttered into her hair. "Future me or past me, I would never let you get hurt."

"It's not me I'm worried about," she whispered back.

He kissed her again, feeling her worry and anxiety at what his own future would be coming through the bond in bucket loads. "I know, I'm scared too," he admitted. "But I'll find out what he wants tomorrow. Maybe it's not a future me. Maybe a strange impossible parallel thing. Let’s hope for a strange impossible parallel thing.”

"That would be nice," Rose said smally, forcing a smile at him.

He gave a watery grin back. "I love you. Never forget that."

She turned her head to look at him, his two brown eyes seemingly glowing in the darkness. "I love you too."

 

* * *

 

The Doctor's double woke up the next day as the Doctor had said he would. He had woken in an energy deficit, but he admitted he couldn't remember when he last ate so the Doctor had put him on a drip and given him some soup until his stomach became accustomed to eating. When he was finally strong enough everyone left the room to let the two Doctors confer together.

"I need your help," the double said, "I'm from your personal future. About five months from where you are now."

The Doctor swallowed, staring at him. That soon? "What happened to you?"

"... The Master."

The Doctor stiffened, suddenly feeling cold all over. "That man is dead."

"That's what you think," the double replied. "Me and Rose were in the marketplace on Groggox..."

* * *

 " _Rose! Try this!" I yell, grinning from ear to ear as I bounce towards her, waving the strange alien food in her face._

_She's looking bewildered, staring at the green sludge on my open palm. "What is it?"_

" _Groggan treacle pie!" I answer. "It's great! It's got Groggan treacle and... Oh, wait... I think it's poisonous to humans."_

_Rose sighs and rolls her eyes at me, laughing as she turns away and moves to another stall. I cram the last of the treacle pie into my mouth and run after her._

_Suddenly from out of seemingly nowhere pain explodes from inside my skull and I cry out in utter agony, hands flying to my head as I fall to my knees. I can hear Rose calling my name but I simply can't reply as everything turns black..._

* * *

 The double swallowed. "When I woke up I was completely blind but I knew I was bleeding badly..."

* * *

_The pain is indescribable. I can feel chains pinning my arms and legs to the ground, slick with my own blood. I'm completely blind, lost in a world of darkness..._

_I can still hear, though. And someone's crying. Rose?_

" _Rose..." I croak. The crying instantly stops._

" _Doctor?"_

" _What's happening?"_

_But before she gets a chance to answer there comes the sound of a door opening, and footsteps come in._

" _Hello Rose, how are you feeling?" Comes the familiar voice that I had become accustomed to during my year-long imprisonment on the Valiant. But he had died... he had died in my arms..._

_Whatever Rose retorts to his question is not verbal. The Master laughs that cold, emotionless laugh..._

" _Well, it’s been lovely chatting but I’m afraid there’s an agenda.”_

" _No... no, please... please don't..." Rose is stuttering as the footsteps get closer towards me. Somehow I know this isn't going to be good._

" _Koschei," I begin, gritting my teeth through the pains already afflicting me. "Please, just let Rose go. You can do whatever you want to me but just let her go..."_

" _He speaks!" the Master sounds surprised. I can't see him but I know he's close – I can feel his breath on my face. "I was beginning to wonder how hard I hit you."_

_Something hits my arm. It takes a moment for my brain to realise what's just happened but as something warm runs down my arm I know without a flicker of doubt that he's just stabbed me._

_He twists whatever he's holding and suddenly more pain screams through my arm, more warm stuff I know can only be blood falls from the wound. I'm screaming in pain, jerking and thrashing in an attempt to get away but the chains are making a good job of holding me down._

_Someone else is screaming. Rose. Rose? What is he doing to her?_

" _Rose!" I scream, but it isn't long before the combination of pain and blood loss slowly take me back into the darkness._

* * *

 "He still had his laser screwdriver... and my biological code. He could manipulate my body... I kept fading in and out of consciousness, every time I woke up I'd be in more pain... I don't know how long it went on for. I never saw him, not until..." Tears appeared in the double's eyes. "Not until Rose died."

The Doctor remained perfectly still. "How did she die?"

"The Master was altering my perception on reality so all I knew was the pain of what he was doing to me. I was hurt too badly... I slipped into a healing coma."

"No heartbeats,” the Doctor realised quietly.

The double nodded again. "When I woke up, I could see again..."

* * *

  _I open my eyes. To my complete surprise, I find that I'm not blind anymore, and that my body isn't hurting as much as it was before. I must've unintentionally slipped into a healing coma. The chains are no longer around my wrists and ankles, and the blood that had been seeping over me is now dry. I turn my head to where Rose has remained as a constant presence, but as the sight meets my eyes horror fills me, my hearts palpitating as the despair rises up and crushes me..._

* * *

 

"Rose was chained the the wall across the room, the knife I think he used on me next to her. There..." the double was gasping through tears. "There was... there was blood over the... the floor... she... she..." he choked out, closing his eyes. "She'd... killed herself…”

The Doctor’s internal organs turned to ice as the mental image flooded his brain...

The double continued, wanting to finish the story. "The Ma... The Master had blocked the... the bond and she... She thought I was d-dead. I... I wanted to die. I reached for the... the knife but then... then the Master came in and... and stomped on my wr-wrist... it broke... he took the knife... and... and punished me for trying to... kill myself. Then it started. He kept me... pr-prisoner as he went around the… the universe in my Tardis and… and killed s-so many people."

The double had to stop as he paused to gasp for air, tears flooding down his face. The Doctor was shaking, wanting Rose more than ever through the strength of the bond. For a few moments he just let his future self cry as he too tried to regain control of his own emotions.

Finally the double managed to speak again. "He concentrated on damaging my spine so I couldn't walk, and he wouldn't let me fall into a healing coma to fix it. Every time I tried to kill myself he caught me and punished me... it carried on for three months. Finally I managed to get away, I stole my Tardis back. I was about to kill myself when I realised... I could come back here. Back in time to before it happened..." His eyes flickered to the Doctor, hope and plead burning inside of them. "And change the timelines."

"I can't do that..."

"Yes, you can."

"No, I just can't."

"You _have_ to do this!"

"I can't!" the Doctor insisted, throwing his arms up in the air. "That's a direct interference with the Laws of..."

"I don't _care_ about the Laws of Time!" the double yelled back through his tears. "I want them back!"

The Doctor faltered. "Them?"

"Rose, and our baby," the double said, his gaze dropping to the covers. "She was pregnant..."

The Doctor stared at him, jaw agape. "I... I don't believe you."

"We had it all planned," the double's voice now lowered to a whisper. "We were ready. Martha was going to handle the birth. The nursery was all set up in the Tardis..."

"You're lying."

"Why do you think you've been so sick recently? You're mentally and physically bonded to Rose, and she's pregnant! You're getting all her symptoms, and a few others as well because humans are not equipped to carry Gallifreyan children!"

"It's Venusian Flu!" the Doctor insisted, but even he didn't believe that.

"You haven't even _been_ to Venus!" the double yelled back. "If you don't believe me, scan Rose! She's pregnant! Check it!"

The Doctor stared at him some more. He suddenly got to his feet, walking out of the door and into the Torchwood Hub where Rose, Jack and Sarah were sat on the sofa, waiting. They looked up as he approached.

"Rose..." the Doctor murmured, staring at her in a state of shock.

"What?" she said quickly, eyes wide. "What is it?"

He didn't answer immediately. He took out his sonic screwdriver from his pocket and pointed it at Rose. It pulsed three times. The Doctor went completely rigid, paling even worse than before to pure white.

"Doctor?" Rose asked, checking herself.

"Oh, Rose," the Doctor sighed, tears of emotion welling in his eyes. "You're pregnant," he croaked, "with a baby."

Rose gaped at him, utterly wrong-footed as she looked down at her flat belly."There's not much else I can be pregnant with!"

The Doctor truly did not know how to feel. He stepped forward, feeling all eyes on him as he slipped the sonic back inside his jacket pocket and dropped down onto the sofa next to his bonded partner. He rested one hand on her belly, the other reaching up to her hair and brushing it back behind her ear as he took in her beauty. Rose looked up at him, her face beaming – but it fell at the sight of the Doctor's.

"You don't want it," she said flatly.

"I do," the Doctor replied gently, kissing her forehead. "But this means..."

"Congratulations," a voice said from across the Hub as the double limped his way down the stairs towards the group on the sofa, his eyes fixed on the Doctor and Rose with his expression impassive. "Will you help me?"

Feeling numb, the Doctor nodded.

"Thank you."


	7. So Here It Comes...

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Doctor struggles to comprehend his future and takes a walk, but collapses from his sickness.

It came as no surprise to any of them that the Doctor's future counterpart had collapsed shortly after he had appeared. He was still incredibly weak and just the journey from his bed to the main Hub had been more than his battered body could take. Jack obediently picked him up and carried him back to his room, linking him up to one of the blood bags the Doctor had supplied from the TARDIS and a nutrient drip.

When he finally got back to the main Hub he found Rose and Sarah talking excitedly about babies, but the Doctor, sat beside them, was staring at the far wall with a haunted look in his eyes that Jack hadn't seen since before Rose had come back.

"Doctor?" he asked, stopping in front of him. "Are you okay?"

The Doctor suddenly blinked, his eyes focusing on Jack as if he'd been brought out a trance.

"I'm fine," he replied, launching to his feet. "Tea! Super heated infusion of free radicals and tannins! Tea is good! I'll go make some tea."

The three watched him go, eyeing him carefully.

"Something's wrong," Jack said simply.

Rose got up off of the sofa and made after him. She found him in the Torchwood kitchen, cups scattered in front of him and seemingly on pause as he stared sightlessly at the wall. She walked up behind him, putting her arms around his stomach and getting on tip-toes to kiss the back of his neck. He jumped in surprise, spinning around to meet her.

"Something's wrong," she said gently, linking her arms around his neck. He swallowed, suddenly nervous.

"Nothing's wrong. I'm fine."

"Don't lie to me," she said sternly. "I know something's wrong, I can feel it through the bond."

He sighed, his gaze moving to across the room. "I can't tell you."

"Why not?"

He closed his eyes for a very long time, taking in a few deep breaths. "Sometimes you're just better off not knowing."

She considered probing him even more for information, but the tone of his voice and the look in his eyes told her that maybe she shouldn't. Not yet, anyway. She nodded silently, kissing him on the cheek before she drew back and left the room.

 

* * *

 

After the tea was made, the Doctor walked back to the main Hub where everyone was, setting the four cups of tea on a tray down on the table. He was acutely aware they were all staring at him.

He couldn't handle this anymore. He got to his feet, taking his coat from off of the back of the sofa and pulling it on.

"I'm going for a walk," he said simply, and rapidly disappeared from the Hub.

"You gonna go after him?" Jack asked Rose.

She paused for a moment, then shook her head. "I think I'm the _last_ person he wants to talk to right now."

"I'll go," Sarah offered, pushing herself upright and disappearing after him.

 

* * *

 

The Doctor had hoped the walk in the early evening of Cardiff Bay would help to clear his head, but it was only making it worse. He’d done a circuit of the plass three times before he perched himself on the sea wall, looking out at the horizon. What his double had told him had shook him to the core more than he’d ever experienced before. His mind kept conjuring up images of Rose's fate just as the double had described, gaping slits in her wrists...

"I bring a truce of chips," came a voice from near him. He looked up, seeing Sarah holding a tray of steaming fresh chips, smiling. He forced a smile back, taking the proffered tray as she sat down beside him on the fence.

"Thanks," he said, sounding a bit distant even to himself as he crammed the chips into his mouth.

"So, what's going on in that head of yours?" Sarah asked after a few moments of silence between them. He looked at her for a moment, before his gaze dropped to the floor.

"I can't... I can't tell you."

"You don't trust me?" Sarah asked. "As far as I can tell it's about Rose, not me. And over the years I've become very good at keeping secrets."

He looked at her again. "Can we take a walk?"

She nodded, getting to her feet.

 

* * *

 

Jack watched from the surveillance cameras as the Doctor and Sarah walked out of the Roald Dahl Plass and towards the high street together.

"They're gone," he said, turning to Rose. "Do you need anything?"

She shook her head, but she visibly looked tired.

"Get into bed, I'll bring you some hot chocolate," he said gently. "You look exhausted."

"But... the Doctor..."

"He'll come back with Sarah when he's ready. You have a baby in there to look after now. Go to bed."

 

* * *

 

When the Doctor had finished the story Sarah felt like crying, gagging, screaming and fainting all at the same time. But instead she looked up at the Doctor, who looked as exhausted and as downtrodden as it was possible to get. Silently she drew him into a comforting hug.

"Thanks, Sarah," he said quietly.

She nodded, but was rapidly getting more and more concerned of how he felt beneath her grip.

"Did you take your meds?" she asked, pulling away. "You feel hot."

The Doctor paused for a moment, then shook his head. "No..."

She couldn't blame him or Rose for forgetting, it had been quite a day for both of them. She took his arm and pulled him back towards the direction they had come. They'd walked for miles...

 

* * *

 

Rose jerked awake, and instinctively checked the clock on the bedside table. It was 3am. She looked over to her right, but the Doctor wasn't there. Something was wrong. She could feel it.

She practically jumped out of bed, pulling on her dressing gown and bunny slippers (the Doctor was absolutely fascinated by them) and ran out of the bedroom, down the corridors, through the console room and out through the double doors of the TARDIS.

The Hub was silent, but she could hear the sweet tones of Dusty Springfield from somewhere above her. Jack's office. She ran up the stairs and burst through the door, startling Jack to such a degree he almost fell backwards off his chair.

"Rose?" he asked after he'd managed to recover. "What..."

"Is the Doctor back yet?" she asked anxiously.

He shook his head. "Why, what's wrong?"

"I don't know, but somethin’ is, I can feel it..."

"Are you sure?"

"Of course I'm sure!" she snapped back, agitated. Then she caught herself. "I'm sorry, Jack... I just know something's wrong."

"It's okay," he said, beckoning her over to sit down on the chair on the other side of his desk. "I'll phone Sarah." He drew out his phone, speedialling Sarah Jane.

 _"Jack,"_ came Sarah's voice. Jack put it on speakerphone for Rose's benefit. _"We need help."_

Jack shot Rose a glance as she visibly tensed. "What's wrong?"

_"It's the Doctor. He forgot to take his medication, he fainted and I have no credit."_

"Where are you?"

_"We're still miles away, I can't carry him back on my own. We're at... Bute Park."_

"Goddamn, Sarah," Jack said, head in his hands. "Are you by the University?"

_"We're on... North Road. Near Blackweir."_

"Okay, go to number 24, it's got pale yellow trims. Knock on the door and ask for Charlie. Get in there, I don't want you two getting hurt. I'll drive up and pick you up."

_"Okay, thank you, Jack."_

"See you soon."

He hung up, looking at Rose. "You'd better get dressed."

She was off in a shot.

 

* * *

 

Sarah dragged the unconscious Doctor up towards number twenty four, feeling slightly nervous. It wasn't very wise to be walking around a major city at 3am. The Doctor seemed to be getting heavier by the minute and her body was starting to ache, she wasn't as young as she was. She'd never known the Doctor to be this ill before, and it was frankly terrifying.

After what seemed like an age she got to number twenty four, the outside light was on so she could see the pale yellow trim Jack had described. She dragged the Doctor up to the door and readjusted him in her grip to press down on the doorbell.

For a while nothing happened. She was about to press again when the door suddenly swung inwards, revealing a slim man in a dressing gown.

"What the hell do you want?" he asked in a vibrant Welsh accent, clearly thoroughly disgruntled at being awoken at this hour. His eyes flickered to the Doctor hanging limp in her grip.

"I want to see Charlie."

His demeanour very quickly changed. "Well, come right in."

She moved past him into the house as he shut the door behind her, then beckoned her into a well-kept living room, filled with photos and strange ornaments.

"What species are you, then?" he asked, taking the Doctor from her and placing him down on one of the sofas.

She was surprised by his question, but didn't show it. "I'm human, but he's not."

"What's he?" he asked, placing a cushion under the Doctor's head.

"Time Lord."

"Never heard of ‘em," he answered simply. "What's wrong with him?"

"He fainted. Jack said to come here so he can pick us up."

He nodded. "Make yourself comfortable, then. Switch the TV on."

 

* * *

 

“Who’s Charlie?” Rose asked anxiously, checking out the window as she and Jack drove.

“Codeword,” Jack told her. “Someone retcon didn’t work on. We just use his house as a safe house now. He doesn’t mind.”

“He just accepts it? All the aliens and stuff?”

“Yeah. I think he realised pretty quickly that no one would believe him anyway.”

She nodded, checking through the window again. After a few moments she saw a house with pale yellow trim, and immediately got rid of her seat-belt and opened the door, out before the SUV had even stopped moving. She went straight to the door and dived in.

“Sarah? Doctor” she called.

“In here,” Sarah responded. Rose followed the voice into a living room, ignoring everything else and going straight to the Doctor lying on the sofa.

“You idiot,” she chastised, stroking his clammy cheek.

"Thanks, Sam," Jack said to the man sitting on the sofa beside Sarah.

"No problem,” Sam responded.

"Jack, medication," Rose prompted, holding out her hand. Jack obliged, putting a black bag into her grasp. Sarah joined her as Rose rifled through the bag and drew out the needle gun and a tube of the now the familiar green liquid. Sarah administered the drugs whilst Rose brushed back his hair from his eyes, pressing a kiss to his forehead.

As soon as Sarah administered the medication, the Doctor stirred. His eyes flickered open, looking very groggy.

"Hey," Rose said, pressing a kiss to his lips.

"Where am I?" he asked drowsily as everyone stared at him.

"Planet Earth," Rose replied, smiling.

"Tha's good..." he slurred.

"Do you _know_ how much trouble you've caused?" Rose said, laughing.

"Mm sorry..." he murmured and closed his eyes, out like a light.

"Get into the SUV," Jack said, slipping his arms under the Doctor and carrying his limp body out of the house and to the back of the SUV. Sarah opened the door for him and he manoeuvred the Doctor inside. Rose quickly got in the other side and pulled him onto her lap, holding him tightly.

Sarah climbed in the other side and shut the SUV side door behind her, lifting the Doctor's feet onto her lap.

"I wish I knew what's doin’ this to him..." Rose muttered, brushing back his hair again as Jack pulled away from Sam's house back to Torchwood.

"His double told him," Sarah said. "You're pregnant, and he's getting the symptoms. It's why his immune system isn't fighting it. It's not an infection. It’s a side effect of you being pregnant."

"That's... weird," Rose said. "This is gonna carry on for nine months?"

"Maybe," Sarah replied, her thoughts turning to what the Doctor had told her. If the timelines played out as the double had said, Rose wouldn't even _make_ it to nine months...

 

* * *

 

Sam was heading back to bed when a strange sound suddenly started from the downstairs hall. It was a groaning sound, like a rusty lever being turned...

He backtracked, suddenly intrigued but uncomfortable at the same time. He arrived at the bottom of the stairs... nothing was there.

Wait a minute. What was that cupboard? That was new. He was sure he never used to have...

Suddenly the cupboard door opened and a man stepped out. Sam stopped in his tracks. He recognised this man... it was Mr Saxon, the Prime Minister who had mysteriously disappeared shortly after being elected...

He turned, and looked directly at Sam, his expression of pure rage and malice.

"Where is he!?" he grated.

Sam was terrified, stuttering as he replied, "W-who?"

"The Doctor..." the man answered, looking around the hall. "He was here..."

"I... I dunno who you're talking about..."

"Oh come on, you stupid human!" Saxon almost screamed, backing Sam up against the wall and drawing out a knife from inside his jacket, pressing it against Sam's exposed neck. "How’s this for a motivator!? _Where is he!?_ "

"I'm... I'm sorry I don't know, please don't kill me!"

Saxon stared into his eyes, and eerily Sam could feel him probing his thoughts. After a moment he drew back, and to Sam’s complete surprise spread a beaming smile.

“Well, you’re not lying,” he said.

“No,” Sam said quickly. “I don’t know this doctor, I swear, please…”

“Oh, shut up,” Saxon said and promptly slit Sam’s throat.

Sam hit the floor, dead within moments. Saxon sighed, wiped the handle on a handy cushion and placed the knife in Sam’s dead hand. He quickly checked his suit, and sighed heavily at the stain of red across the chest. Blood was a pain to wash out.

Leaving Sam's dead body on the floor of the hallway he turned and walked back into the cupboard. After a moment the groaning started up again, and the cupboard disappeared out of existence.

 

 


	8. Marmalade on Toast

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Doctor and Rose discover the gender of their baby, and the future Doctor takes a downturn.

The next morning Rose made sure that this time the Doctor had his medication with breakfast. While they ate Jack's motley version of a fry up the Doctor had offered to take Sarah back home since Luke was probably missing her, but she just said Luke knew what she was doing and Rani's parents had said they could look after him. He had nodded at her, smiling appreciatively. She had smiled back.

After they had eaten Jack and Sarah cleaned up as Rose and the Doctor went to check on his future self. To their surprise they found him perfectly awake and coherent, sat up in bed reading a book.

"Feeling better?" the Doctor asked, moving towards his double and checking the monitor read outs.

"Much," the double replied, setting down the book. "Thank you."

"If you don't mind I'll give you a check over to see how everything's coming," the Doctor said. “Are you hungry?”

The double nodded. "Yeah."

"I'll get something," Rose said, turning to the Doctor. "What can he have?"

"Toast," the Doctor replied.

"Marmalade?" the double piped up, looking hopeful.

Rose smiled. "I'll see what I can do," she said and disappeared out of the door.

"You didn't tell her," the double said, looking at the Doctor as he moved forward.

"I will," the Doctor replied with a sigh, drawing out his stethoscope and placing it on his double's chest on his right heart and left heart in turn. "I just... I don't know how."

"You need to tell her," the double said, a sense of urgency in his voice.

"I know, I know..."

"Before the Master arrives..."

"It's not going to happen," the Doctor said bluntly. "I won't let it."

The double didn't answer.

The rest of the examination continued in silence until Rose returned, holding a tray stacked with marmalade toast. The Doctor's double accepted it gratefully.

"Your bone density is still a little low," the Doctor commented, checking the readout. "It's down to the strength of a human. Your neural energy is steadily rising, but your muscles are degenerating, fast. You need to get up and walk about a bit for now with the strength you have, then we can figure out a course of physio when you get a bit stronger."

The double nodded, cramming the last of the toast in his mouth. 

 

* * *

 

The Doctor and Rose left to let the double get dressed and smartened up. When they got to the main Hub to their surprise they found Mickey and Ianto chatting animatedly to Jack and Sarah. Both were covered head-to-toe in what could only be poo, but they were quite obviously frustrated and tired. After a moment Mickey looked up at the Doctor and Rose, and his expression turned to surprise.

"Rose!" he cried, bounding forward and flinging his arms out ready for a hug, throwing poo everywhere. Rose made a face and backed away, hiding behind the Doctor. The Doctor laughed at Mickey's face as he stopped dead in his tracks, obviously confused before he realised he was covered in excrement. Everyone laughed, Mickey included as he dropped his arms and backed away.

"Good to see you again, boss," Mickey said, giving a casual salute instead.

"You too, Mickey," the Doctor replied, dropping his stance and saluting back. "And Ianto, good to meet you at last. I would shake your hand but... you know."

Ianto smiled back. "Good to meet you too, Doctor. Jack never stops going on about..." he suddenly trailed off in mid-sentence, his eyes travelling over to the staircase behind the Doctor and Rose. Everyone else's eyes followed to find the future Doctor making his way down the steps towards the gathering. He was now clean shaven and presentable in clothes not streaked with blood, though his hair was still a little long.

"Morning," he said brightly, giving a wave as he limped to stand on the other side of Rose.

"What the hell happened to you?" Mickey asked, staring at the bruises and cuts and bandages around the limbs of this new Doctor.

"Would you believe me if I said I fell down the stairs?" the double asked brightly. Though his sunny disposition was obviously forced.

"No..."

"Then I think you can guess," the double replied, his face impassive.

There was a long, uncomfortable pause.

Jack suddenly clapped his hands together, smiling again. "Shower!"

"Shower!" the Doctor repeated happily, looking between Mickey and Ianto as he wrinkled his nose. "Seriously, good to see you both and all, but you stink."

Mickey and Ianto made their farewells and disappeared to get cleaned up.

 

* * *

 

The rest of the morning was spent in giving the future Doctor the exercise his muscles needed. By lunchtime he was exhausted, so Jack and the present Doctor guided him back to bed where he was helped into a healing coma. The rest of the day was spent catching up, Ianto and Mickey telling the enthralling tale of a long trek through the sewers and absolutely nothing to show for it except a huge dent in their dignities.

After a while Rose plucked up the courage to take Mickey to the side to deliver the news of her impending motherhood. Mickey already knew that they had bonded and had taken it into his stride, so he was equally as happy to hear the news of a baby. His delighted reaction could be heard throughout the Hub.

"So, when is he or she due?" Mickey asked when he and Rose got back to where the Doctor, Sarah, Jack and Ianto were sat.

"Eight months," the Doctor replied. "I'd like to check-up now."

"Sure," Rose replied, pecking a kiss to his cheek.

 

* * *

 

Minutes later Rose was laid on one of the TARDIS infirmary beds, the Doctor pulling a metal apparatus over her belly with everyone standing around the side, watching. He switched on the monitor at the foot of the bed and the scan appeared, showing a tiny blob residing contentedly within Rose's womb.

"He or she is fine," the Doctor said, smiling. "Growing at the normal human rate, six weeks in."

"Can you tell the gender, yet?" Jack asked. The Doctor nodded, then glanced at Rose, who also nodded. He tapped a few buttons on the metal apparatus, then checked the results.

"Chromosomes are X and... X. It's a girl," he said.

Then came the expected chorus of congratulations and hugs for the two new parents, of a brand new baby girl, but the Doctor and Sarah maybe weren't as enthused as everyone else.

 

* * *

 

The next morning the Doctor woke up in the TARDIS in his and Rose's double bed. He lifted his head from the pillow, yawning widely.

"Mornin' sleepyhead," came a voice from beside him. He turned his head to find Rose lying on her side facing towards him, her head propped up on her palm.

"Were you watching me?" the Doctor asked, raising his eyebrows.

"You're cute when you sleep," she said, grinning. "You twitch a lot."

"Says Miss Cover-Hogger," he replied, yawning and stretching like a cat after a nap on a rug by a fire.

"You love it," she replied, grinning as she climbed over him, pinning him to to the bed by his wrists. Within moments her nightie was gone and his shirt was somewhere on the floor. She leaned forward, brushing her lips against his as she dived in to...

"Doctor!" a voice yelled from the doorway. The Doctor jumped up, practically throwing Rose five foot in the air to meet Jack standing in the doorway, hopping urgently from foot to foot. The Doctor grabbed onto the cover and shielded Rose's naked body.

"Jack!" he cried. "What-"

"Sex can wait, Doc, it's your double! He's having a seizure!"

 

* * *

 

The Doctor and Rose arrived at the double's room in Torchwood in their pyjamas to find him fitting violently as Jack had said.

"Centrencephalic," the Doctor muttered, checking the monitor. "This shouldn't be happening. How long has he been like this?”

“I dunno, three minutes, longer…?” Jack replied quickly.

“Get some oxygen,” the Doctor said quickly.

Jack quickly retrieved it, and together he and the Doctor managed to get the oxygen mask over the double’s head through his spasms.

“What do we do?” Rose asked, wide-eyed.

“I need to get some medicine,” was all the Doctor said before he ran off back into the TARDIS. Rose couldn’t help but move to Jack, holding his arm tightly at the sight of the Doctor’s double still posturing and spasming on the bed. He obligingly wrapped an arm around her, somehow reading her mind.

By the time the Doctor returned with the needle gun in hand it had been five minutes since the double’s seizure has started and he still showed not signs of stopping. The Doctor managed to grab his double's arm in mid-seizure and press the gun to his shoulder, pulling the trigger. With a hiss and a click the liquid had vanished and the Doctor drew back to Rose and Jack. Slowly the double's movements began to gradually slow down.

"This isn’t good, is it?” Rose supposed, still holding onto Jack.

“No,” the Doctor murmured, running a hand through his hair.

Finally the double lay still on the bed. The Doctor moved forward quickly, checking his vitals.

"He needs support from the Tardis now," the Doctor said urgently. "Jack, can you get a stretcher?"

"On it," Jack said and disappeared out the door.

"What happened?" Rose asked anxiously.

"I don't know," the Doctor muttered. "His neural energy has plummeted, and..." He paused, eyes widening. "His right shoulder's dislocated. Rose, can you hold him down a moment?"

Rose obliged, moving to the side he'd indicated and holding the double down firmly. She winced and closed her eyes as the Doctor took his future self's arm and expertly snapped it back in its socket in seconds.

Jack came back through the door with a stretcher in his hand just as the Doctor's future self starting fitting again, even more violently than last time. The Doctor gave him another dose of what he'd administered before and the double fell still again.

"Tardis," the Doctor ordered as he and Jack lifted the double's limp body onto the stretcher and took the handles, carrying him out of the room and towards the TARDIS. They had only just managed to get through the TARDIS doors when the double was suddenly gripped by yet another seizure, and the Doctor and Jack quickly put him down again.

"What's doing this?" Jack asked, brow furrowed.

"I need to scan..." the Doctor muttered, administering the drug for the third time and waiting until the double stopped once more. They were about to pick up the stretcher again when the double suddenly shifted on the stretcher, finally coming to. He blinked up at Jack and the Doctor, plainly groggy and confused. His eyes were wide and terrified.

"No... No... No..."

"What?" the Doctor asked quickly.

"The Master..."

"What about him?"

"He's... He's here!" the double gasped weakly, "he's... Rose!" he screamed, his back arching in the air before he collapsed back down, unconscious.

 


	9. Promises

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Due to the future Doctor's constant screaming, the Doctor and Rose can't sleep and leave the Hub, but outside, someone is waiting for them.

The double had screamed non-stop in a constant nightmare from the moment he had been taken into the TARDIS Infirmary. Every now and then he would stop for an hour or so, but then he just started screaming again, seemingly even louder. And there was nothing they could do to help him.

The day passed slowly and still he was screaming. He'd had two more violent seizures and had broken his left arm hitting it against the head of the bed which according to the Doctor was impossible due to the integrity of Time Lord bones.

They couldn't figure out what had caused his rapid deterioration of health. It was only yesterday that he'd looked a bit more energetic, some colour back in his cheeks, looking as though he might be back on the road to recovery.

Night arrived and everyone went to bed, but even the walls of the TARDIS couldn't block out the broken Time Lord's screams. For a while Rose laid in bed staring at ceiling, listening to the double scream and wail and cry out her name repeatedly. She couldn't sleep through this.

The Doctor wasn't sleeping, so she got up, got dressed and went out into the corridor to go to the console room where he'd usually be.

There he was, sitting on the pilot seat gazing at the time rotor sightlessly. Even in the console room the screams of his double were still coming through the walls. He looked up on her entry, but didn't seem surprised.

He got up to meet her in a hug, neither of them saying anything until they parted.

"Can we go for a walk?" Rose asked after a moment.

The Doctor nodded silently.

 

* * *

 

They passed Jack as they left the Hub, who looked at them quizzically but said nothing. They stepped out of the small shop to the bay, holding hands as they walked down the path and up to the Plass.

"Please tell me what's happenin'," Rose suddenly said, stopping and turning back around, holding both of his hands.

His eyes dropped to the floor. "Rose... I can't."

"Please, Doctor."

"I can't."

She sighed heavily, pulling him over to the sea wall and pushing him to sit down before dropping down next to him.

"Doctor," she said, retaking his hands and giving them a rub. "It's so hard to just carry on like normal, 'cause he's _you,_ he's _screamin'_ for me. I love you and all I can hear is you cryin' out my name and there's nothin' I can do about it. I love you. I don't want this to happen to you. If there's anythin' we can do to stop it then I wanna know about it. If you won't for me, then maybe for her?" She nodded to her belly.

He looked at the ground again, taking in a deep breath, contemplating.

Then he told her.

He told her everything the double had told him from start to finish, missing out nothing. She had to know, after all. She had to know her potential future... _their_ potential future.

When he was done she was crying. He held her immediately to his chest, resting his chin on her head.

"It's okay, it's not going to happen," he said gently, stroking her hair as she shuddered in his grip. "I won't let it happen."

"What he did to you..." Rose whispered. "You must have been in so much pain..."

Rose. His Rose. She was so beautiful, intelligent and caring. He had told her of her own death and yet she was only thinking about him. He pushed her away from his chest, looking down at her tear-streaked face. He thumbed away her tears, cupping her chin and lifting her head to him.

"It's not going to happen," he repeated, staring into her eyes. "I promise." His hand moved from her face to her belly, placing a hand on it. "I will keep you both safe. I will deal with the Master, I will be fine, we will have this baby girl, she will be fine, _everything_ will be fine."

"Awww, how touching," suddenly came a voice from near them. The Doctor threw himself up instantly and dived in front of Rose on instinct, turning to meet the gaze of the man standing mere metres away.

"Master," the Doctor grated.

"Doctor," the Master acknowledged with a winning smile, twirling his laser screwdriver absently in his fingers. "Nice to see you again."

"What do you want?" the Doctor hissed, feeling Rose clutching onto the back of his jacket.

"No pleasantries?" the Master asked, sounding surprised. "Straight down to business, then." He stopped spinning the laser screwdriver, gripping it in his fist. He lifted it directly to point at the Doctor. "I still have your biological code, Doctor... I can do whatever... I... _want."_

He pressed the button.

The Doctor suddenly jerked involuntarily, his eyes widening and jaw dropping into one long, blood-curdling scream of undeniable agony.

"Doctor!" Rose cried as he dropped to the floor, writhing in pain. It continued for what seemed like hours to Rose until the Doctor finally stopped, pushing himself shakily to his knees as Rose dropped down next to him, hugging him tightly.

"Get away," the Doctor gasped at her, pushing her from him.

The Master simply laughed. "I could get used to this. Oh, wait, I did." He raised the laser screwdriver once more, pressing the button down. The Doctor screamed out once more, jerking and contorting on the floor in utter agony.

"No! Please, stop!" Rose yelled, trying to get in the way again but the Doctor pushed her once more with quite a force. "Please stop!"

The Master didn't seem to want to stop. He twisted the laser screwdriver, pressing the button down as hard as he could...

"Stop right there," a voice suddenly growled from behind the Master, and Rose looked up to find Captain Jack standing directly behind the Master, a gun pointed to the Time Lord's head.

The Master stopped, leaving the Doctor gasping on the floor. Rose dropped to him immediately, wrapping her arms around him, trying to get him to stand up.

The Master turned to Jack, a smile spreading on his face. "Ah, the freak," he acknowledged. "Not today."

He suddenly swung around, startling Jack as the gun went flying out of his hand across the pavement.

"Rose! Run!" the Doctor gasped, pushing her away from him.

The Master dived for the gun, clutching it in his palm as he turned it on the stunned Jack, and fired. Jack fell to the floor. As Rose ran across the clearing the Master ran after her, the Doctor attempting to get up but the Master quickly turned the gun on him and pulled the trigger, not even stopping to look as he caught up with Rose and grabbed her from behind, his hand around her neck.

The last thing Rose saw was his looming smile as he threw her over the sea wall and into the water below.

The Doctor ploughed into him just a little too late, and both of them went crashing to the ground. For a moment the Doctor just stared at him, his teeth gritted, breathing heavily. Bleeding all over the Master and the pavement the Doctor hauled himself up and staggered over to the sea wall, disappearing in seconds over the side after Rose. The Master made to go after him but Jack was up again, running for the fallen gun. The Master saw this and went for the gun himself, and suddenly it was a tug of war between them. For a minute they struggled with each other, then Jack managed to pull it out of the Master's hands. He turned the gun on the Time Lord, and fired off a shot into his leg.

Jack grabbed the laser screwdriver and shoved it into his pocket, the gun quickly disappearing into his holster. He ran across the concrete to the sea wall, throwing himself over the side into the water below in pursuit of the Doctor and Rose.

He swam as far and as wide as he dared. He scoured the murky depths for any trace, anything at all – but there was nothing. Not even any red water from the Doctor's wound.

It was thirty minutes before he gave up the hunt. Shivering badly he pulled himself up out of the water and made his way to the Plass to where he had left the Master. He wasn't there.

The Doctor and Rose had completely vanished, and to top it all off, the Master had vanished too.

 


	10. Drama!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jack and Sarah rush to the hospital to try and find the Doctor and Rose.

The clock hit 6am in Torchwood Three and still there was no sign of the Doctor or Rose.

Jack had rudely awoken Mickey, Ianto and Sarah as his panic grew and grew. It was apparent their disappearance was sending him over the edge, as he'd fired Mickey four times and had almost punched Ianto in the face.

At 8am Sarah took him aside for a cup of tea and a pep talk to calm him down so Mickey and Ianto could work on tracing the Doctor and Rose in peace. By 10am Jack was feeling a lot more calm and collected, and it was just as well he was, as seconds later Mickey shot straight to his feet, eyes wide.

"Jack!"

Jack was over by his desk in a shot. "What?"

"An ambulance was called out for Llywn Passat at 7am... two people, white brown-haired male and a white blonde-haired female were unconscious and unresponsive on the shore. They're at hospital now."

"That's them!" Jack yelled. "Which hospital are they at?"

"St David's."

"Call ahead, get us clearance," Jack ordered, already running for his coat. "I'll take the SUV. Sarah, with me!"

 

* * *

 

They arrived at the hospital in double-quick time. Jack and Sarah pushed their way through the crowds to the reception desk, Jack flashing ID to get priority.

"My friends, they were admitted at around seven, Rose Tyler and John Smith, they were found at Llywn Passat..."

It took ten minutes to locate them. A nurse took Jack and Sarah down a lot of corridors into a ward, and further down the aisle of beds until they reached Rose. She was asleep. A doctor stepped up next to them, taking her chart hanging from the bottom of the bed and checking it over.

"She will be fine, she wasn't submerged enough for total hypoxia. Were you aware she is pregnant?"

They both nodded.

"The baby is fine," the doctor said, smiling. "She'll be okay to leave very soon."

"Good," Jack said. "And John?"

The doctor's smile rapidly changed to a look of sincerity. "Follow me."

Jack and Sarah exchanged a glance as the doctor led them down the ward to a side room, gesturing for them to sit down on the sofa. He shut the door quietly behind him, taking a seat opposite them with his hands clasped together in front of him.

"John sustained penetrating abdominal trauma to the retroperitoneal space. He was bleeding severely when he was found. He went into cardiac arrest in the ambulance. The paramedics were unable to revive him."

Jack and Sarah just stared at him. "... He's dead?" Jack whispered.

"I'm very sorry," the doctor said solemnly.

"No... This isn't possible..." Jack muttered, staring at the doctor in disbelief. "He's not dead. He can't be."

"These are his belongings," the doctor said, handing Jack a brown paper bag. For a moment Jack and Sarah just stared at it.

"I'd like to see his body," Jack finally managed to say.

 

* * *

 

They were taken down to the morgue and led over to a table in the centre, a drab white plastic sheet covering a body. Sarah was the one to reach up and pull it down as they held their breath, and the face of the person underneath was revealed.

It was the Doctor.

Sarah gasped, stumbling back a few paces as Jack stared, open jawed. The Time Lord was lying on the table perfectly still, his eyes closed. He wasn't breathing.

"This isn't real..." Jack muttered, almost pleadingly. He pulled the sheet down the Doctor's bare chest a little bit further to his waist, revealing the area the bullet had entered. That was odd. It looked like it could have been inflicted weeks ago...

"Healing coma!" Sarah suddenly realised, a smile spreading onto her face. Jack looked up sharply. "He's repairing the damage! They would have thought he was dead, he stops breathing and his hearts don't register on a heart rate monitor."

"He's still alive?" Jack gasped, reaching up and shaking the Doctor's shoulders. "Doctor! Wake up!"

"He's too deeply unconscious," Sarah said, pulling Jack's hands away. "He'll wake up when he's ready."

"When's that?"

"I'm not sure."

"We need to take him back to Torchwood," Jack said, taking off his coat and wrapping it around the naked Doctor, lifting him in his arms. Suddenly the Timed Lord stirred, his brow furrowing as he slowly rose to consciousness. Jack quickly set him back on the table as his eyes shot open. Suddenly he cried out in pain.

"Jack!" he gasped, grabbing onto the Captain's shirt. "Get it out! Get it out!"

"Get what out?"

"The bullet!" the Doctor grunted, curling up on himself, holding his stomach. "Get it out! CUT ME OPEN!"

"W-what?" Jack stammered, caught off guard.

"Please!" the Doctor begged.

"Jack, you have to get the bullet out," Sarah said calmly, handing him a scalpel before moving to the Doctor's head, cupping his face. Jack just stared at the scalpel, as if it were about to explode in his palm at any moment.

"Jack, please," the Doctor whispered, lifting a shaking hand and indicating a line across his abdomen. "Incision here... Two inches... It's... spreading... It's..." He suddenly twisted out of Sarah's grip, retched, and went limp.

"Jack," Sarah said again as the Doctor fell unconscious.

The look of concentration on Jack's face was impossible to measure. He slowly lowered the scalpel to the Doctor's skin, as if he were trying to defuse a bomb. Suddenly he straightened, turning to Sarah and gesturing at the scalpel. "Has this been cleaned? I need to be sterile..."

"It doesn't matter, he can adapt," Sarah dismissed. "Just do it."

Jack swallowed, turning back to the Doctor's abdomen. He counted to three under his breath, then lowered the knife.

It was the longest three minutes of his entire life. The Doctor was bleeding by his hand as he groped about inside his best friend's abdomen, trying in vain to find the bullet that was causing so much pain to the Time Lord.

He found it. He clasped it between his finger and thumb, pulling out the tiny object so fast he almost dropped it again. When it was finally out he threw it onto the floor, his hands covered in the Doctor's blood. He felt a cloth press into his hand – Sarah. He placed the cloth on the inflicted wound and pressed down, looking up at the Doctor's face. He was beginning to come around.

"Ahh... ahh..." he moaned, opening his eyes and lifting his head to look down at his stomach. "It's out?"

Jack nodded, swallowing. "What do I do now?"

"Keep holding it," the Doctor answered, wincing. "Until I stop bleeding..."

"I'll find you some clothes," Sarah said, and had vanished out the door in moments.

"Jack," the Doctor moaned, barely able to focus on him. "Rose, where's... Rose?"

"She's okay, they said she's gonna be fine," Jack said quickly.

"The baby..."

"Is also fine," Jack assured him. "They did think you were dead though so they might be in for a shock."

"The Master..."

"He's gone, I shot him in the leg but when I got back he’d left. I'm sorry."

"I've gotta find Rose," the Doctor grunted, trying to get up, but almost immediately crying out and dropping again.

"Don't move," Jack implored, pressing a little more down on the incision. The Doctor cried out a little more. "She's fine, she's asleep. You saved her life."

He checked the wound - it appeared to have stopped bleeding. A quick check around the morgue told him there was nothing to cover it with. In the end he pulled off his shirt and proceeded to rip it up to cover the wound. Moments after he was finished Sarah returned, complete with a wheelchair and blanket.

“I couldn’t find any clothes,” she explained apologetically, giving Jack the blanket. He took it, methodically wrapping it around the Doctor before lifting the Time Lord up and placing him carefully in the wheelchair. The Doctor sagged immediately.

"Blood loss," the Doctor murmured. "Weak."

"Okay," Jack said, said, taking the wheelchair handles and pushing him through the morgue door and back out into the hospital. Sarah had to sense to grab another blanket from a room as they walked, covering the Doctor a little more, partially to disguise him from the doctors and partially to keep him warm.

It took a few minutes to get back to Rose's bed, but when they got there, she'd gone.

"Something's wrong..." The Doctor sat up, staring at the empty bed and clearly still groggy. "Something's wrong..."

"She probably just got discharged,” Sarah reasoned.

“But she was unconscious ten minutes ago,” Jack muttered so quietly he could barely hear himself.

“We’ll check with reception,” Sarah said, setting off at a jog.

 

* * *

 

"Rose Tyler... ah, she was discharged about ten minutes ago by her husband," the receptionist said, smiling happily at them.

"What?" Jack gaped, flashing one of his many IDs. "Who? What was his name?"

The receptionist tapped at the computer again. "Let me see... it was Koschei, Koschei Tyler."

There was utter silence. The Doctor's eyes widened, his knuckles white, gripping onto the arms of the wheelchair…

“Was he limping?” the Doctor asked, his face set.

“Yes, he was. Why?”

"Let's go, Jack," the Time Lord said, not even blinking.

“Thanks,” Sarah directed to the receptionist before they left.

When they got outside, the Doctor gripped the wheel hard to stop them moving.

"The Master. He was here... Koschei..." the Doctor said, voice shaking. "He took Rose."

"I'll phone her." Sarah quickly drew out her mobile phone, speed dialling for Rose. Moments passed. "She's not picking up."

"He has her..." the Doctor whispered, hands entangled in his hair.

Jack had tried phoning too. "She won't pick up for me, either."

"She might be unconscious," the Doctor muttered, "or the Master has her phone… Tardis,” he ordered. “Now.”

 

* * *

 

When they got back to Torchwood, it was utter chaos. Mickey and Ianto were running around utterly frantic, coming to meet them at the door.

"He came and took your future self!" Ianto explained to the Doctor, panicking.

"The Master?" Sarah asked. Ianto nodded quickly.

"He was in two places at once?" Jack turned to the Doctor. "He travelled back on his own timeline?"

The Doctor was visibly trembling, whether it was with rage or grief none of them knew. "Ianto, did he have a limp?"

"What?"

The Doctor was suddenly on his feet, inches from Ianto's face. "DID HE HAVE A LIMP?" he screamed.

"N-n-no!" Ianto stammered, intimidated. "He was fine!"

"Oh no..." the Doctor muttered, dropping back into the wheelchair with his head in his hands. "No, no, no, no..."

"What?" Sarah asked, dropping down to his head height.

"He didn't travel back on his timeline... One had a limp, one didn't... There are two of them!"

He was only met by silence as everyone stared at him, horrified.

"There are two... and they have my future self... and Rose," his voice was barely a whisper. "He has my baby."

No one knew what to say.

"He has my baby!" the Doctor was now yelling, slamming his fists on the arms of the wheelchair. "My daughter!"

"Doctor," Jack said gently, resting his hands on the Time Lord's shoulders and leaning forward, staring into his eyes. "They'll be okay. Your future self, Rose, and your daughter. We'll find them."

The Doctor suddenly tried to get up, but Jack quickly pushed him back down again.

"Don't you dare," Jack told him seriously. "You've been shot. You need to rest up."

"I'm fine!" the Doctor snapped and got up again, pushing Jack away. Almost immediately he cried out, grabbed his stomach and collapsed to the floor.

"You're not fine. You're very far from fine," Jack said, pulling him up again to sit in the chair.

"I can't just sit here..."

"I know but..."

"Jack," the Doctor interrupted, looking at him pleadingly. "You know. You know I can't leave her with him."

Jack looked at the others, who took the hint and moved away. Jack pushed him to the side into a weapons room, shutting the door behind them.

"I know, I swear to god I know," Jack said, stooping to his height. "But she's okay. He wouldn't hurt her, because he knows you'd know about it."

"But it's _him,"_ the Doctor stressed. "Anyone else. Not _him."_

"I know," Jack repeated. "But c'mon, be rational. You've been shot. You can barely walk. You can't help her like this."

"I can."

"You _can't,"_ Jack stressed.

"I can't watch him do that, not to her. Not after the Year..."

"No," Jack interrupted. "We made a rule never to talk about that unless we're blind drunk, remember?"

"But it happened," the Doctor insisted. "No matter how much we deny it, it still happened and _he_ did it."

" _He_ is going to get his throat ripped out by Janet the Weevil if he touches Rose and he knows that," Jack said firmly. "We've got time. We need to think and plan this. Go to bed, heal up as best you can and we'll think about it later."

"But-"

 _"Go to bed,"_ Jack grated. "Or I'll knock you out myself."

The Doctor paused, swallowing. "You're right," he muttered.

"Damn right I am," Jack agreed, squeezing the Doctor's hand before he leaned forward to kiss him on the forehead. The Doctor obligingly squirmed, but the ex-Time Agent didn't relent. Finally he pulled back and offered the Doctor a small smile. "Okay?"

The Doctor nodded.

"I'll get you to bed," Jack said, taking hold of the wheelchair handles and starting back to the door. "I can snuggle if you want."

"Stop it."

"Never," Jack replied with a grin, pushing him back out into the Hub.

 


	11. Rope Bond

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Doctor receives communication from the Master as to the whereabouts of Rose.

Rose woke up.

Her head felt unnaturally heavy, her throat sore and dry and her stomach growling in hunger. She opened her eyes and looked up, finding herself in a metal room littered with space age buttons. A spaceship? When did she get here? The last thing she remembered was waking up in a hospital to find a man standing over her... the Master... he'd drugged her. He must have brought her here.

She looked to her right, finding another person lying with her in the basement. It was the Doctor’s double. She pushed herself to her feet instantly, running over to his side and dropping down next to him.

"Doctor," she said, giving him a shake. "Wake up."

He didn't stir. She drew back, thinking hard. Where was her Doctor? He had been swimming towards her, slamming his lips onto her's to give her his own breath as he took her to the surface, and swam with her to the shore. She must have passed out when they'd got there.

Still, he obviously wasn't here so she would have to try and get out of this herself. She got to her feet and began to check the perimeter of the room for any means of escape, having become very apt at it throughout her travels with him. There wasn’t much to examine. She checked the only door at the side of the room, but it was locked. She tried ramming it with her shoulder but it didn't even budge.

Sighing, she made her way back down to the Doctor and sat beside him, taking off her jacket and placing it under his head. Now she could only wait.

* * *

 

The Doctor was nothing short of frantic. After falling into a regenerative sleep and reducing his bullet wound to a white scar, he was now on the verge of tearing his hair out, trying every single way he knew to trace the location of his future self and Rose, but he was getting nowhere. He’d tried localising her phone signal but all the results were inconclusive - the Master had already thought of that one. He’d tried to locate her through the bond but that hadn't worked either.

Not even Sarah could calm him down. He walked in frustrated circles about Torchwood, several fragile and irreplaceable objects shattering in moments as he randomly smashed near everything he saw.

Then the post came.

"Doctor, you have a letter." Jack handed him a white sealed envelope. The Doctor practically tore it open, not even stopping to think about how and why he had had a letter delivered by the Royal Mail to him at a top secret base in Cardiff.

He pulled out a slip of paper from inside the envelope, unfolding it. On it was printed neat Gallifreyan symbols which meant nothing to Jack peeking over his shoulder, but the Doctor's eyes widened.

"What is it?" Jack asked as the Doctor's arms dropped limply to his sides, his head rising slowly to stare at the wall.

"Co-ordinates," the Doctor said slowly, turning around to meet Jack's gaze. "The Masters want me to go to them."

Jack quickly grabbed his arm to prevent him from walking off, an expression of pure horror on his face as Ianto, Mickey and Sarah moved forward to watch. "You're not going, are you?"

"Yes, I am," the Doctor replied firmly, attempting to pull away from Jack but his grip was too strong.

"It‘s a trap," Jack insisted.

"Of course it's a trap!" the Doctor snapped back rudely, wrenching his arm forcedly out of Jack's grip. "I don't care. I want them back. I need them back."

"Doctor, if we just wait..." Jack began pleadingly.

"I can't wait, Jack. She's here." He pointed at his chest where his hearts beat, not losing eye contact with the ex-Time Agent. "She's always here, because of the bond. It's like a rope tying our hearts together. The more distance there is between us the tighter the rope becomes, the less slack there is, and the more it feels like something's going to rip out of my chest with the pull." His voice dropped to a whisper as suddenly tears appeared in the corner of his eyes. "That's what it feels like when the bond is broken, Jack. The rope tugs too hard and rips out your heart. I need her, Jack. I physically need her, I need to touch her skin, kiss her lips, feel her breathing, listen to her heart beating... I need her eyes, her nose, her mouth... I need everything. Think of the most love you've ever felt for anything and multiply it 1000 times."

Jack let a breath out through gritted teeth, eyebrows raised. "Whew.”

"And that's only the start," the Doctor replied, hand on his forehead. "Now because of the baby there's a secondary Gallifreyan bond between me and the child, a paternal one from me to her... I feel nothing but pure love and a sense of fierce protection for my baby girl. It lasts for life. If anyone touches her without expressed permission from me or Rose I would rip them apart bare-handed. Having both a pair bond and a paternal bond ripped from you at the same time is capable of sending a Time Lord insane. It happened to my future self.”

“What d’you mean?”

“My future self has gone insane,” the Doctor clarified. “Because his Rose and his baby are dead and his rope’s been hacked into two. He's fighting it but deep down he knows he's lost his mind. His body is dying. He’s having seizures because Rose is dead and h body is falling apart. That’s why I need to do this, and do it now. You're either with me or you aren't. I'm leaving."

He turned, and walked into the TARDIS, leaving the door open behind him.

Jack, Sarah, Ianto, and Mickey watched him go. The silence was only momentary.

"He's going to kill himself..." Jack sighed, closing his eyes. "He's walking straight into a trap that will probably kill him and he knows it."

"Which is why he needs as much help and support as he can get," Sarah said shortly, then disappeared into the TARDIS after the Doctor.

"Sorry, Jack," Mickey said, then followed Sarah.

Jack turned to Ianto, staring at him, but not saying a word.

"I don't know much about him, but I do know that he's saved this planet thousands of times. Surely we at least owe him this?" Ianto asked.

"I can't help him walk into his own death," Jack muttered.

"Then help him survive."

Ianto took Jack's hand, and led him into the TARDIS. The Doctor looked up on their entry, and gave a wan smile.

"Shut the door behind you, we don't want a draft," he said, commencing programming.

Jack obeyed and walked up the ramp with Ianto, checking his ammunition. The TARDIS jerked and thudded as it began to de-materialise.

Suddenly the console started to beep an alert. As the Doctor leant forward to check it there was the sound of a tolling bell throughout the TARDIS, sound repeatedly over and over...

"The cloister bell!" the Doctor realised, absolutely mortified. "Something's wrong... We're gonna crash! Everyone HOLD ON!"

The TARDIS was completely out of control as it threw its passengers about wildly, the room spinning in all manner of directions as the Doctor struggled helplessly to correct it but he could hardly stay upright as they plummeted down, down, down through the safety of the vortex to the ground... The walls were beginning to fall inwards as the room turned bright white, and all its passengers could do was scream as the world around them faded to nothing.

* * *

 

Rose suddenly felt a shiver down her spine. Something had changed. Something had happened to the Doctor. Something bad... The bond was pulling harder on her heart, trying with all its might to rip out of her chest...

 

 


	12. The Master's Weakness

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After crashing, the Doctor, Jack, Sarah, Mickey and Ianto wake up on a strange planet. The future Doctor's health takes a turn for the worse.

When the Doctor first opened his eyes, he found he was lying messily on a mud floor, a dense forest about twenty metres in front of him stretching for as far as the eye could see.

That was odd. He didn't remember going to sleep here. And there was something else missing. People? People he had been with. But he couldn't remember their names... or their faces.

It was tiring trying to remember. He was so sleepy, his head ached. It wouldn't hurt to sleep a little while longer…

 

* * *

 

When he next opened his eyes, someone was kneeling over him. Tall, dark-haired... a familiar-looking man.

"Doctor!" the man said with an American accent, sounding relieved. "You're awake! Can you walk? You've hit your head pretty bad... Doctor?"

He didn't have the energy to answer. Heavy head, heavy eyes... He drifted off once more.

 

* * *

 

When he next woke up, he was being carried by someone.

He opened his eyes and lifted his head, his vision foggy and merged. Someone noticed and suddenly they stopped.

"Hey Doc," that same voice spoke. "Not gonna pass out on me again are you?"

The Doctor did just that.

 

* * *

 

"Let's see then, Doctor," a voice echoed through a fog of complete darkness. He’d know that voice anywhere. It was the Master. "How about a little bit of fun? I’ve got Rose and your future self all locked up as you know, but there’s been a problem. Rose has - _somehow -_ been infected with a poison. But I’m giving you the antidote. You just have to find her, but I’m sure you’ll manage it. You wouldn’t let your girlfriend die horribly, would you? Eight hours, I give her, but I’m no doctor…”

 

* * *

 

"No!" the Doctor yelled, sitting up straight with his eyes wide, arm stretched out towards nothing as he panted for breath.

"Doctor?" came a voice from next to him, and a hand rested on his chest. His eyes refocused on Jack's face, looking at him with concern. "Are you okay?"

The Doctor swallowed, his arm dropping to his side but his body still tensed as his eyes flickered around their surroundings of a dense dark forest, a small camp-fire lit in the centre of a circle of makeshift beds. "What happened? Where are we?"

"The Tardis crashed, remember?" Jack said gently. "We all got spat out. No idea where we are."

"Is anyone hurt?" the Doctor asked, pulling away from Jack and getting unsteadily onto his feet, peering through the trees of the surrounding forest in all directions.

"Well, Mickey landed on his ankle and you landed on your head, the rest of us are pretty much okay."

"Good," the Doctor said, but his attention was obviously split.

"What are you looking for?" Jack asked, getting up and moving to stand next to the Doctor.

"I had this dream,” he began. but the dream was slipping away like trying to grip a bar of wet soap. “The Master told me that... Rose was..." He suddenly paused, his eyes widening in horror. He quickly dug about in his pockets, searching frantically for something within. Eventually he drew out a small clear glass phial, filled to the brim with a transparent liquid.

"What's that?" Jack asked.

"The antidote. The antidote to a poison."

Jack stared at the Doctor, immediately horrified the moment he pieced it all together. "You mean... Rose..."

"Is poisoned, and I have the antidote..." the Doctor completed, his throat almost totally dry.

"How long have we got to find her?"

"Eight hours..." the Doctor answered, shoving the phial back into his pocket.

“Any idea where she is?”

The Doctor pointed vaguely to his right. “That way, I can feel her from that way.” Then suddenly he was darting around, making to gather up all of their supplies. "Wake everyone up!"

"No, Doctor," Jack said quickly, grabbing him by the shoulders to prevent his movement. "It's pitch black, we don't even know vaguely where we are, and absolutely anything could be in this forest. It's not safe."

"We've only got eight hours!"

"We'll get there in plenty of time, trust me, okay? Dawn breaks in a couple of hours so we'll set off then."

The Doctor considered getting angry, but inside he knew Jack was right. Anything could be in this forest. He simply nodded and stepped back, running a hand through his hair.

"Get some sleep. I'm watching for tigers," he said, grinning. The Doctor just stared at the ground. "Hey, we'll find her, okay?" Jack said. "And I for one will beat the living crap out of the Master when we find him, and you won't be able to stop me."

The Doctor gave a weak smile. To Jack it seemed like a lifetime since he'd seen the Doctor's smile. He'd missed it.

"Now go to bed. I'll wake you up at dawn and we can go get her back."

 

* * *

 

"Is he still not awake?" asked a cynical voice as the basement door flew open to reveal the present Master, twirling a laser screwdriver casually in his fingers with his trademark smile on his face. Rose quickly moved in front of the Doctor's double, shielding him with her body. She said nothing.

The present Master raised an eyebrow. "Oh, how brave of you. It won’t work.”

He raised the screwdriver, and pressed down on the button. Suddenly Rose felt - what seemed like - a small explosion from within her insides and she shrieked out in pain, doubling over, all the breath instantaneously sucked out of her lungs.

The Master stopped immediately. “What… Oh, that’s just _perfect.”_

Rose, still shaking, forced her head up to the Master, tears already at the corner of her eyes from the pure pain of what she’d just experienced.

“Hold on, hold on,” the Master said quickly, adjusting the setting on his screwdriver. He raised it once more and pressed the button. Rose flinched, but she felt no pain. Instead the end of the Master’s laser screwdriver pulsed three times.

The look of delight on his face could only be compared to a child when an ice cream truck had stopped right next to them. “You… are… pregnant!”

She froze, horrified. “No, I’m not, it’s…”

“You’re producing the Doctor’s offspring,” he surmised, grinning. “I didn’t think that was even possible. Bet that was a shock when you found out,” he paused, gazing at her. “Unless you didn’t? Congratulations!”

Rose felt sick. She couldn’t say anything.

“That’s so sweet,” the Master mused. “He actually had sex with you. How primitive.”

He raised the laser again, turning the settings again. Rose put herself in front of the Doctor’s double again.

“I'd move before I point it in that direction,” he told her politely.

"Why?" Rose challenged, trying to appear a bit more confident than she felt.

"Your offspring shares half of its father's biological code," the Master said simply. "If you get in the way..." He shrugged, nonchalant. "You get in the way."

Then Rose realised that the agony she had felt had in fact been the embryo, suffering. Was it dead? "... The Doctor's comin'."

The Master laughed, but it still somehow had no hint of joy in it. "Yes, yes he is," he said simply, smiling like a lunatic. He knew something she didn't. "He’s just been a little… diverted."

Rose stared at him. "What d’you mean?" she whispered.

The Master laughed again, giving Rose a sympathetic smile. "Oh, he's perfectly safe in my care. At least, physically, anyway..." He turned his attention to the future Doctor lying on the floor, and raised his laser screwdriver.

"Move, girlie," the Master warned Rose. She had no choice. She had to leave the Doctor's double to the mercies of the Master, and she could do nothing about it. She didn't even want to risk running in case the baby was hurt. She shifted away to the corner, tears appearing in her eyes as she curled up into a tight ball...

But then someone else appeared in the basement doorway, and Rose's jaw dropped.

It was another Master.

This second Master, the future Master, made his way to the bottom of the chairs, stopping and smiling broadly at her.

"Hello again, Rose," he said with a smile, dropping to his haunches and clapping his hands together. "I seem to recall a similar situation to this, except that in my version the Doctor's blood was all over the floor."

Rose said nothing. The Master moved away to his present self, gazing down at the Doctor lying on the floor.

"Watch this," the future Master said to his other self, pointing the laser screwdriver at the body on the floor and holding down the button. In seconds the Doctor's double was screaming his lungs out, thrashing around on the floor in a fire of pain before the Master let go of the button and the Doctor's double stopped, panting heavily for a moment before easing open his eyes to meet the gaze of the Master.

"No!" the Doctor’s double suddenly yelled, his eyes shooting wide open. He backed across the floor to the wall without moving his gaze from the Master, curling up and burying his head into his arms whispering a jumble of words from a foreign language,

The future Master stepped forward towards him. The Doctor flinched.

"Are you going to get up now, Doctor?" the future Master suggested in a patronising manner.

The Doctor instantly pushed himself into both feet, but his head remained lowered to the ground.

"Good boy," the Master praised, and held out a gun. "Take the gun, Doctor."

The Doctor did so, all the while staring at the ground.

"Point the gun at me," the Master commanded. The Doctor obeyed. "Shoot me, Doctor."

For a moment, nothing happened. Then the Doctor was suddenly shaking, his teeth gritted as his head raised to stare at the Time Lord opposite him, the gun arm trembling violently. "No... can't... no..."

His gun arm dropped to his side.

"This is _brilliant!"_ the present Master enthused, looking just about ready to jump in the air.

"You haven't seen the best bit yet," the future Master assured, before turning to the Doctor again. "Okay, point the gun at the girl, Doctor."

The Doctor suddenly looked up again, his face blank of emotion as he raised the gun and pointed it directly at Rose's head. She shrank back, confused and scared.

"Now… Shoot her."

Rose felt a flurry of panic rise in her chest as she glanced to and from the Master and the Doctor, unable to believe what was happening. She could only watch as the Doctor's finger shifted against the trigger, her heart pumping... and he pulled.

The gun clicked. It was empty. The Masters suddenly burst out in fits of laughter, enjoying every single moment. But the Doctor was trembling again. His eyes remained fixed to Rose, his arm still pointing the gun at her, but his entire body was shaking...

He dropped to the floor and began to fit violently. The Masters quickly stopped laughing, but now for once looked a bit caught off guard.

"What the hell is this?" the present Master demanded to know from his future counterpart.

"I don't know, he's never done this before!" the future Master replied, frantic.

"He's havin' a seizure!" Rose said quickly, moving in between the two Masters without a second thought as she pillowed the Doctor's head with the jacket she'd used earlier. "It's rare in Time Lords, it's why you've never seen it before."

"What do we do?" The Masters had lost all sense of authority as they turned to Rose for guidance. "I've never seen anything like this!"

"The Doctor gave him this drug, but I dunno what it was, we're just gonna have to wait until it finishes."

"Why is he doing this?" the future Master demanded to know. "Is it bad?"

"I don't know, the Doctor didn't say much..."

"Will he die?"

Rose stared at him, a small smile appearing on her face. "You're really scared of him dyin', aren't you? You'll do your best to make him suffer and break him enough to shoot me, but you won't let him die."

"What do we _do?"_ the future Master grated, raising the laser screwdriver to her belly in a threatening manner. "Tell me!"

Rose wiped her smile from her face quickly. "Do you have a medical facility? An oxygen mask? A bed?"

"We can go to my Tardis," the future Master answered, looking back down at the Doctor. "He's stopped..."

"He might start again in a minute," Rose said. "Lift him between you, if he starts convulsin' again put him down and let him do it."

They obediently lifted him and carried him out of the door, Rose following on. Even if she couldn't escape without the Doctor, she might be able to make their time here a bit more comfortable now that she knew the Master's weakness.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is all I've got for now, will continue to sift through at some point :D


	13. One Down

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Doctor becomes increasingly anxious as to the fate of Rose as he and his group continue on their journey, which has suddenly become a lot more dangerous.

The Doctor was awake even before Jack had shaken him the next morning. The Time Lord had cooked the breakfast ready for everyone else when they had woken up and was pacing again exactly as he had been in Torchwood just a day previously as they consumed it, obviously trying to speed them up so they could leave.

The only evidence of the Doctor's awkward descent was a dark bruise on his forehead which had considerably lightened overnight, so it required no emergency treatment. But Mickey had sprained his ankle quite badly in the crash, so the Doctor had drawn out a medical pack from inside his extensive coat pockets, given him a painkiller and had bandaged it firmly to compensate until they could get him proper medical treatment. The Doctor would have taken him straight to the TARDIS but she was totally was out of the question as the Doctor could sense she wasn't near enough for a justifiable detour.

Once everyone was ready and the situation had been explained they were off, the Doctor leading the way. After thirty minutes and six dead ends they ended up back at the camp. Soon they barely had five hours to get the antidote to Rose.

They reached another dead end. The others could see the Doctor was quite clearly about to lose his temper as he subconsciously ran his thumb over the phial in his jacket pocket, hopping from foot to foot as though he were standing on hot coals.

"Doctor, chill out, once we get out of this forest it's just ten minutes until we find them," Jack tried to assure him, but the Doctor was immediately started repeatedly running his hands through his hair until he looked like a hedgehog, hitting his head with his fist.

"I can feel her distress," the Doctor was saying, "I can feel her calling out for me... I need her..."

"And you'll have her," Sarah replied gently. "But really, we're wasting a lot of time standing here worrying, aren't we?"

The Doctor nodded, shrugging back his shoulders and straightening himself up.

"This way," he gestured, and began to walk. Suddenly he stopped completely dead. Ianto almost walked straight into him.

"What..." Mickey began, but the Doctor simply raised a hand, shushing him instantly. Then he pointed at a hand-woven banner tied to the trees just above their heads. Jack looked up, but then swore, loudly.

"What does that mean?" Ianto asked, gazing up at it.

"It's a tribal banner," the Doctor muttered, his hand dropping to his side again. "A tribe of people live here."

"That's good, isn't it?" Sarah wondered. "They can help us?"

"Not really..." The Doctor muttered, exchanging a knowing glance with Jack.

"They're a bad tribe?" Ianto asked, eyes flickering between Jack and the Doctor.

The Doctor's voice was now barely a whisper. "... They're cannibals. We are lunch. And we're right in the middle of their territory."

 

* * *

 

The Masters had helped the future Doctor as they had said in their TARDIS. When he had not had a seizure for an hour the Masters had taken the Doctor's double and Rose back out of the TARDIS into the spaceship.

"So where are we?" Rose asked, feeling slightly more confident than before. Being led through the spaceship she could clearly see it had clearly been some sort of battle ground, as the walls were stained with blood and scorch marks from what she assumed to be some sort of laser fire.

The Masters did not answer. They simply carried the double through the corridors to a white room with a glass door, shoved Rose inside, locked it and left without a word.

Rose sighed, looking around at the new room they were in. She half-heartedly tried to hit the glass door but it was clearly not going to break no matter how hard she tried. No escape, that was evident. She dropped down next to the Doctor, pulling his head into her lap.

"Just you and me again then, huh, Doctor?" she said, stroking back his hair. "He'll be here soon."

 

* * *

 

"We need to get out," the Doctor whispered urgently, and he was visibly terrified. "Now. Quick, quiet, all of you."

They moved in total silence, following the Doctor's lead as he quickly but quietly led the way down a forest trail. The trail was covered in human blood, the odd human bone scattered in the bushes still with bits of meat hanging off. The Doctor deliberately tried to shield everyone's gaze from the worst of it. Were they getting out, or deeper into the territory?

The Doctor suddenly stopped, and everyone stopped instantly behind him. After a few moments he slowly turned around to face the way they had come, and everybody followed his gaze.

A dozen men, faces blackened with dirt and wearing heavy furs were yelling blood-lust roars... and they were heading straight towards them.

"RUN!" the Doctor yelled.

All four turned with him, and ran.

They bolted across the forest ground, hearts pumping at the height of adrenaline... The roars seemed to be getting louder and louder in their ears... were they gaining? Weren't they?

Suddenly the Doctor heard a cry of pain and somebody fell to the ground. Mickey.

The Time Lord stopped instantly, spinning around to find Mickey sprawled out on the floor at the mercies of the cannibals, who were quite distant but were rapidly gaining with every second. The others made to stop but he waves his hands to tell them to carry on running before he ran back to Mickey, dropping down next to him and slinging his arm around his shoulder, pulling the human to his feet. "Come on!" he encouraged Mickey, literally dragging him across the clearing.

"I can't..." Mickey gasped, shaking his head. "Leave me. My ankle!"

"No!" the Doctor yelled back. "Don't you dare do this to me!"

"Leave me!" Mickey demanded.

"No!" the Doctor shouted, forcing him along but the tribe were gaining, fast.

Mickey yanked his arm away from the Doctor. "Let go!" he shouted back, angry and utterly terrified at the same time. "I'll slow you down! You need to find Rose and your daughter! Go! Now!"

"But..." The Doctor was staring at him in utter disbelief. "Mickey, please, these people are cannibals!"

"Then you'd better run then, hadn't you!" Mickey screamed back, giving him a strong push so hard the Doctor nearly fell over. He looked sharply up - the cannibals were mere metres away... He abruptly realised that Mickey was giving him utterly no choice.

He gazed at Mickey for a moment, a wave of emotion passing between them in a matter of milliseconds before he turned, and ran for his life.

 

* * *

 

Jack and the others reached the outskirts of the forest, checking behind them, but there was no sign of the tribe.

"Is everyone here?" Jack gasped.

"Mickey and the Doctor," Ianto gasped back in reply, leaning on a tree.

Jack looked up at the forest instantly, his eyes searching for any sign of the Doctor and Mickey. There was nothing. He swore, straightening up and making to run back in again.

Then someone appeared in the trees, running towards them. Even from that distance they could tell it was the Doctor. He arrived next to them, almost falling over the stray log near Jack's feet. Jack caught him, confused.

"Where's Mickey?"

The Doctor was quite obviously distraught. "His ankle..." he gasped. "He couldn't... run... I tried to save him... but he told me to... leave him... I couldn't... they were coming... I left him." Tears were in his eyes and Sarah quickly moved forward and hugged him tightly.

"They got him?" Jack asked, staring at the Doctor in disbelief.

The Doctor nodded. "I tried... I..." he trailed off.

No one knew what to say. Mickey was certainly dead.

"I'm sorry. We need to go on," Sarah said gently. "We need to find Rose. We can mourn him once she's safe."

The Doctor nodded, pulling himself together. "I know."

"Which way?" she asked gently.

He pointed across a field.

"Then let's go," she said, and together the group moved off, sombre.

 


	14. Two Down

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rose begins to succumb to the poison as the Doctor's group loses another member.

"Rose? Rose?"

Rose stirred from her light sleep to find the Doctor's double kneeling in front of her. She blinked a few times to adjust her foggy vision. He looked concerned.

"Rose," he said gently, reaching up to cup her cheek. "Are you okay?"

She nodded, yawning slightly.

"You're a little hot," he said, hand on her forehead.

"Thanks," she replied, smiling.

He returned a small smile, but it was obviously strained as he watched her close her eyes again. "Hey," he said. "Stay with me."

"Mmm," Rose replied absently.

"Rose," he said again. "Sit up. Please?"

She nodded, forcing herself up before looking at him. "D'you remember what happened?"

The double closed his eyes, clearly ashamed. "The Master. I'm sorry, Rose..."

"Don't worry," she said. "You can't help it."

He didn't reply to that.

"He's broken you, hasn't he?" Rose said quietly.

He nodded soundlessly.

"It's okay," Rose said, putting her arms around him. He seemed to flinch slightly. She looked at his face, confused. "What?"

"I..." he started, but eventually trailed off.

She understood immediately and backed off. "Oh god, I'm sorry..."

"No," he said quickly. " _I'm_ sorry. I'm sorry I couldn't protect you."

"It wasn't your-"

"It's my fault," he insisted. "I should've told you about the healing coma. Then you would have known and you... You wouldn't have killed yourself."

Suddenly she didn't care. She leaned forward and held him as she would hold her own Doctor, with love and care. She kissed him briefly on the lips, brushing back his hair. He looked bewildered. She couldn't help but giggle at his expression.

"Wait," she said suddenly. "I just thought... We changed the time lines, right? I know about healin’ comas. Shouldn't you disappear?"

He shook his head. "I’m a future version of him, but by coming to you here I've jumped timetracks and created a new timeline, so mine is completely separate, meaning the cause and effect of this time doesn't apply to me. I could die right now and it wouldn't affect him across any of the timeline, and vice versa. The same applies to the future version of the Master."

She paused, gazing into his eyes. "It's so weird," she said. "You're him... but you aren't."

"I am nothing like him," the double replied seriously. "That man died a long time ago, Rose."

"Don't say that," she said gently. "When all this is over, you can stay with us, yeah? You can get better and you can help raise our baby like you were supposed to, yeah?"

He gave a half-smile, but there was a sadness in his eyes.

"It's okay," she murmured, closing her eyes again. "Doctor'll be here soon."

"I hope so..." the double replied, looking down at her as she settled with her head on his lap.

 

* * *

 

The Doctor, Jack, Sarah and Ianto walked for what seemed like hours.

Nobody had spoken for the entire walk. The sudden loss of Mickey had been so unexpected that it seemed no one quite knew how to handle it. In the end they had obviously all decided to stick with denial.

Suddenly the Doctor stopped, and gestured to a large house sitting on top of a hill.

"There," he announced. "She has to be there."

They carried on, picking up the pace a bit until they eventually reached a river, placed conveniently between them and the house. It looked deep, the current was unbelievably strong and it was at least fifteen metres wide.

The Doctor knelt down on the bank, staring into the water.

"We can't swim through this, it's suicide," he stated plainly, his hearts going cold as he gazed into the murky, muddy depths.

"Then what do we do?" Sarah asked.

The Doctor suddenly jumped up, looking around. "There must be a bridge, or it must thin out somewhere. We just need to find it."

They began to walk, following the river downstream for another hour. The current only seemed to be getting stronger.

"A bridge!" the Doctor suddenly yelled in delight, pointing up the river. He broke into a run, leaving everyone behind as he sprinted to the bridge in the far distance. When they got there, the true gravity of the situation became apparent. The bridge was hardly a bridge at all – it was incredibly thin and on the verge of collapsing altogether, and even as they stood there staring bits of wood were falling off and crashing down into the water below, very quickly washed away by the current.

Without a moment's hesitation the Doctor stepped slowly forward, his right foot on the bridge.

"Be careful," Sarah said gently.

He nodded, slowly leaning forward and putting his entire weight on the foot. The bridge creaked ominously beneath him as he slowly raised his left foot and placed it down beside his right, his hands firmly gripping the worn rope that served as makeshift rails. Then he began to move, slowly but surely over the bridge.

About halfway over he began to grow more confident, increasing his pace. He had only taken two or three more steps when suddenly a plank of wood cracked beneath his right foot. He cried out in alarm, lunging for the rope desperately as he fell sideways, just about gripping it in time. The resultant swing almost meant he face-planted into the river, but after a moment of wobbling he managed to right himself. For a minute he just took in a few calming breaths, before checking his leg. He'd managed to catch it on the edge of the broken wood, and now there was a rip in the fabric of his trousers and blood was quite clearly oozing out. He couldn't feel any pain. Yet.

"Doctor!" a voice yelled, and the Doctor turned back to find Jack and the others all looking at him anxiously. "Are you okay?"

"Don't step on the dark bits!" the Doctor yelled , grinning. The others offered relieved smiles back.

Taking it slowly once more, he moved across the rest of the bridge until he dropped down on the bank at the other side, breathing a huge sigh of relief.

"Sarah, you go next," Jack said. She nodded, summoning up the courage to step onto the bridge. Five minutes later of painstaking shuffling and she reached the other side, but the bridge was quite clearly struggling to stay up.

Jack went next. Another slow five minutes passed before he reached the Doctor and Sarah.

"One to go," the Doctor muttered, before raising his voice to Ianto. "Come on!"

"Your leg," Sarah pointed out, resting a hand on his shoulder. "Sit down."

"In a minute," the Doctor fobbed off, staring across the bridge to Ianto, who was beginning to make his way across. She rolled her eyes and took his arm, pulling him down and forcing him to sit as she took his leg and rested it on her thighs.

"Medical kit," she prompted, holding out her hand. He reached inside his coat pocket and drew out the slim silver kit he had used on Mickey, giving it to her.

"You're worse than Rose," the Doctor commented, smiling slightly as he leaned back on his hands.

"Well, someone has to look after you since you're so bad at looking after yourself," Sarah replied, smiling. She peeled back his trouser leg, wincing at the deep gash inflicted before she began to work on it.

"I'm not that bad," the Doctor insisted innocently. Sarah just laughed at this. "What?"

She didn't answer, finishing up bandaging his bleeding leg and pulling the fabric of his trouser leg back down.

Then it all happened so fast.

Suddenly there was the sound of a massive crack, and they both looked up sharply to the bridge Ianto had been crossing to find the Welsh man in the water, gripping desperately onto the rope rails with the current pulling him strongly downstream. The wooden bridge was in pieces around him.

"Ianto!" Jack yelled, panicking. The Doctor got onto both feet and made forwards, but Ianto was already struggling to grip the rope.

"Hold on!" the Time Lord yelled, eyes scanning their surroundings for anything that could help, but it was too late. Ianto couldn't hold on any longer. The rope slipped from beneath his fingers, and he was washed away.

"No!!!" Jack yelled, running down the bank, trying to keep level with Ianto. "Hold on, I'm coming!"

"Jack, no!" the Doctor shouted, running down the bank after him. He reached Jack just as he pulled off his coat, the Doctor holding him firmly around the chest to prevent him from jumping in.

"Get off of me!" Jack screamed, struggling to pull free of the Doctor's grip but for such a thin man he was incredibly strong. Jack struggled for another twenty seconds until Ianto had disappeared down the river completely.

"I'm sorry," the Doctor said gently, letting go of Jack and stepping back. For a moment Jack just stood on the river bank staring at the place Ianto had disappeared, but then he whirled around with his eyes on fire as he stared at the Doctor with pure, undivided hatred.

"This is your fault!" he yelled, raising a fist and planting it squared into the Doctor's face. The Doctor stumbled backwards in surprise, hand on his nose as Jack suddenly grabbed him by the shoulders, shaking him like a rag doll. "You killed him!"

"I'm sorry!" the Doctor said quickly. "You'd have only got yourself killed!"

"I would've died with him!" Jack screamed back, spittle flying into the Doctor's face. "I love him!!" Jack hit him once again. "Hit me! Come on!" He punched the Doctor for a third time, splitting his lip. "HIT ME!"

"I'm not going to hit you," the Doctor said quietly, dabbing at his bleeding lip with his finger.

"Fucking hit me!" Jack swore, punching him in the stomach. The Doctor doubled over, winded. Jack smacked his knee into the Doctor's torso and the Time Lord fell to the floor, gasping for air. Jack was far too full of hate to realise what he was doing as he raised his foot and planted it into the Doctor's side repeatedly, screaming insults at the Time Lord with tears streaming down his face.

"Jack!" Sarah yelped, diving over the Doctor to protect him from Jack's relentless anger. "Stop!"

Jack suddenly faltered, blinking in surprise at the Doctor lying bleeding on the floor in front of him. "Shit..." he whispered, his eyes wide. "What have I done?"

The Doctor grunted and lifted his head, his nose and lip bleeding. Jack dropped down next to him, holding him to sit up.

"I'm so sorry," Jack said, hugging him tightly.

"It's okay," the Doctor said over Jack's shoulder.

"No. it isn't," Jack said instantly. "I had no right. I love you, you're my best friend. I'm sorry."

"You were angry, you needed a punching bag," the Doctor insisted. "I'm really sorry about Ianto, I had to stop you."

Jack kept holding the Doctor. "He might be alive. Maybe he caught onto something and he's on the bank..." He garbled out, still clinging onto the Doctor. "We can get Rose, then we can find him. He can look after himself for a while."

But even as Jack said the words he knew deep down inside that Ianto was most likely dead. He loved Ianto with all his heart, but Rose was on a time limit, he couldn't put her life in danger for a lost cause.

Jack got to his feet, helping the Doctor up. His blood had quickly coagulated from the minor wounds, but Jack felt insanely guilty just by looking at him.

"We need to move," Sarah said gently, slipping an arm around the Doctor's waist to support him. "We only have about three hours left."

 


	15. Three Down

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> More old foes are encountered as the Doctor's group loses yet another member.

They had finally reached the house, but time had ticked very quickly away. By the time they had got through the front door there was only an hour left, and the Doctor was completely on edge.

"Rose!" he yelled, desperate for an answer. "Rose! Can you hear me?"

He got no reply.

"Which way do we go?" Sarah asked, looking around the corridors of the deserted house, dark and ominous and filled with dust and cobwebs. There were two corridors, one leading left and the other to the right, and a grand staircase with half of the steps caved in just in front of them.

A grandfather clock standing just in front of them only served to reinforce the Doctor's panic as it slowly ticked away both time, and Rose's life.

The Doctor ran his hand through his hair, his teeth gritted as he contemplated the situation. "Rose?" he called, but once again there was no reply. "Okay," he said, turning to the right hallway. "This way."

They walked in silence for ten minutes through hallways, bedrooms, and even a ballroom, but they were only coming across dead ends and impassable doors. The Doctor was getting more and more frustrated as time went by, until he finally declared they should turn back and go back towards the entrance, and this time take the left hallway.

But they'd only got back to the ballroom before the Doctor suddenly stopped dead, his hands resting on Jack and Sarah's arms.

"What is it?" Jack asked.

"That wasn't there before," the Doctor said simply, pointing at the giant circular shadow in the centre of the room.

"It's just a shadow," Jack said, bemused.

"Yes, but what's casting it?"

There was a long pause as Sarah and Jack craned their necks to look up, figuring out what might be casting such a distinctly-shaped shadow. There was nothing. Absolutely nothing. Nothing was casting it.

"What is that?" Sarah asked, bewildered and terrified at the same time.

"Vashta Nerada," the Doctor muttered, starting forward. "They're like piranhas, they'll eat you alive if you step in the shadow..."

Jack and Sarah both swallowed nervously, before moving after the Doctor as carefully as possible, mimicking his every footstep to the millimetre.

"Doctor," Sarah suddenly said, staring at the shadow on the floor. "The shadow... it's getting bigger."

The Doctor whirled around to stare at the shadow on the floor, and it was indeed getting bigger, creeping towards them slowly but relentlessly... "Run," he whispered, and then bolted towards the door. Jack and Sarah were hard on his heels, adrenaline burning through them with every step, looking over their shoulders to check the position of the deadly shadow. It was slowly speeding up, getting closer, and closer, and closer...

"Through the door!" the Doctor yelled as he yanked open the wooden door, motioning for Sarah and Jack to pass through, impatient. "Get through now!"

They passed over the threshold, the shadow a metre from the Doctor's feet. He quickly slipped in after them, slamming the door shut behind him. But the shadow was still coming, spreading under the doorway and into the room like seeping lava from a volcano...

The Doctor slammed his palm on the light switch and the lights sprung to life, brightly illuminating the room they were standing in. The shadow quickly shrank back underneath the door, disappearing altogether.

The Doctor breathed a huge sigh of relief, turning around to face Jack and Sarah.

And came face-to-face with a weeping angel, centimetres from his face.

He stumbled back in surprise, hitting the wooden door they had just run through.

"Sarah! Jack! Don't blink!" he yelled, his eyes wide and staring at the angel standing in front of him, teeth bared, claws unsheathed. "Are you both okay?"

"Here," Sarah's voice said from the side.

"I'm okay," Jack affirmed.

"Good," the Doctor said. "Don't blink. Move slowly over to the door..."

Slowly the three edged towards the far door, their eyes wide and staring at the angels with their hearts hammering in their chests. If they blinked... one blink...

"Through the door," the Doctor muttered. "Quick."

Jack backed through the door first, careful not to step in front of the Doctor's line of sight. He and the Doctor were out the door, but they weren't safe yet.

"Sarah!" the Doctor hissed, not daring to look over to her. "Come on!"

"Doctor," Jack said lowly, . "I can't..."

"Please Sarah!" the Doctor said, urging her with his voice. "You need to get out!"

As fast as lightning Jack's angel was suddenly in the middle of the room, towards Sarah. Jack cursed. "I blinked!"

"Sarah, you need to get out here now!" the Doctor said urgently, his own eyes beginning to dry up. "Once they're all in one place it'll be much easier!"

"I don't know where the door is!" Sarah said, clearly panicking.

"Follow my voice," the Doctor said, hearing the hysteria in her tone. "Follow my voice, we're here, the door is here..."

"Doctor, I'm scared…”

"It's fine, Sarah, calm down," the Doctor said as gently as he could. "Just keep moving over here..."

"I'm sorry, Doctor," she croaked.

"No! SARAH!" the Doctor shouted, his eyes flickering over to the area Sarah had stood – but now there was only an angel, its hand outstretched towards nothing...

"Doctor!" Jack yelled, grabbing the back of his coat and yanking him out of the doorway, slamming the door shut quickly behind them.

"No! We have to go back in!" the Doctor shouted, making towards the door. Jack quickly grabbed him and pulled him away, restraining him as the Doctor had done before to him. "Let go!"

"No!" Jack shouted back. "Sarah's gone, Doctor! You saw it! They took her! If we go back in there we'd only be taken too!"

"Sarah..." the Doctor groaned, pushing Jack away as he fell to his haunches, his head in his hands. "This is my fault. Mickey, Ianto, Sarah... I killed them all."

"No," Jack said gently. "We chose to come with you, Doctor. All of us. We knew the risks. You didn’t force anyone to help."

"Is it worth it?" the Doctor suddenly burst out, angry and upset. "Will she even thank me for this? Three of our friends are dead, Jack! All of this, it was a mistake, I should’ve come on my own…”

“If you had you’d be dead,” Jack insisted.

“If you were smart you'd just run away now, as far away from me as you can..."

"Don't you dare," Jack grated, suddenly angry. "Don't you _dare_ say that."

"It's destiny, Jack," the Doctor muttered, falling to sit cross-legged on the ground. "Rose and our baby can’t be with me. I can't be with anyone. They’re safer away from me."

"I don't believe this," Jack said with a sigh, dropping to sit down next to the Doctor. "You are not destined to be alone. You of all people should know there's no such thing as destiny. The future's what you make it. You don't carry death around with you, you just live a dangerous life. It wasn't your fault Sarah died, it wasn't your fault any of them died. We all knew the risks before we chose to stick with you. But you can’tjust stop now, that’s not fair. We need to find Rose, save her, and then we can come back and  get the other three. Okay?"

The Doctor didn't answer, still staring at the ground.

"Okay?" Jack demanded again, taking the Doctor's arm and pulling it up behind his back, grinning roguishly.

"What..." the Doctor began, but yelped in pain as Jack yanked his arm. "Okay, okay!"

"Submit?" Jack asked, beaming from ear to ear as he pulled on his arm again.

The Doctor laughed. "I submit!"

Jack let go, laughing as he took the Doctor into a hug. "You're like the little brother to me that didn't turn evil."

"Thanks," the Doctor said shortly, muffled in Jack's chest.

"C'mon. We've got thirty minutes left," Jack said, getting to his feet and helping up the Doctor. "Let's find her."

 


	16. Time

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jack and the Doctor still can't find Rose as time continues to tick away.

The Doctor and Jack had found absolutely nothing. They had been in circles around the house for ten minutes, shouting for Rose and breaking down doors, but they had found nothing. No signs of life. Not even any more Weeping Angels or Vashta Nerada. The Doctor looked as though he were about to have a nervous breakdown as the clock signalled twenty minutes left.

"Koschei!" he yelled to the skies, pacing back and forth with his hands in his hair again, staring at the skies. "Please!"

But neither he nor Jack were in the slightest bit surprised to hear absolutely nothing back. But the Doctor persisted.

"Koschei!" he yelled again. "Answer me! Where’s Rose?"

"Can you feel her now through the bond?" Jack asked anxiously. The Doctor put his head in his hands, dropping down onto a nearby moth eaten sofa.

"No, she's just... she's hurting, she's screaming for me..."

Jack sat down next to him, rubbing his back reassuringly in the silence. After a moment the Doctor swallowed, throwing back his shoulders and standing up straight.

"Twenty minutes," he said shortly, and then began to walk.

"Doctor?"

The Doctor whirled around at the sound of the new voice around the room, surprised to find a teenage girl standing in the doorway of the room they had just walked through staring at him, her eyes wide. Her hair was long, wavy and brown, her eyes bright and brown and staring at him as they saw each other across the room.

"Doctor?" the girl asked again.

"That's me," the Doctor replied, puzzled.

"It's really you..." the girl whispered, her eyes filling with tears. She ran forward to meet him, throwing her arms around his middle and hugging him tightly. "You're real."

The Doctor was hardly in the mood for cryptic. "Who are you?" he asked, pushing her gently away from him and staring down into her eyes. "How did you get here?"

"I need you to trust me," she said simply.

"With what?"

"Please, trust me." She drew him into a hug again, pressing her head to his chest with tears running down her face.

"Who are you?" the Doctor asked, this time not letting go.

"I'm really sorry," the girl said. The Doctor raised an eyebrow, but could feel something cold pressing against his abdomen. He looked down...

It was a knife.

Before the Doctor had a chance to open his mouth the girl thrust her hand forward forcefully, and the blade slipped in like a knife through butter. The Doctor jerked, taking in a short gasp of air before he completely lost strength and collapsed backwards onto the floor, revealing to Jack the knife sticking out of his abdomen with blood pooling all around it.

"What?" Jack felt as though he'd been punched in the face. "Doctor!" He dropped down on his knees beside the Time Lord, his heart in his throat. "No!"

The Doctor was bleeding all over him now, his eyes lightly closed and audibly having trouble breathing. Jack stared down at him, still not quite able to understand what was happening before the Doctor's eyes struggled open...

"No, please, no, please don't die..." Jack whispered, holding the Doctor tightly as he brushed back his hair from his forehead. "Please, I don't wanna be on my own... Please, Doctor..."

The Doctor blinked up as him, obviously trying to say something but not being able to find the strength to form the words. He released one final, shaky breath, and his eyelids fluttered closed.

"No!" Jack almost screamed, tears pouring down his cheeks as he stared at the unresponsive Time Lord lying lifeless in his arms. Then suddenly he was angry. He set the Doctor carefully down onto the floor before suddenly straightening up to full height, turning to the direction of the girl, ready for a fight, but she'd gone.

Attempting to calm himself down to prepare for the inevitable regeneration he looked back down at the Doctor, but his heart skipped a beat.

He wasn't there.

He'd vanished.

 

* * *

 

The Doctor was falling, falling through the darkness with seemingly no up, down, left, right, forwards or backwards. He couldn't see anything nor hear anything. Neither did he feel particularly hot or cold. He could hear voices, but the words made no sense. They were screaming, laughing and crying.

Suddenly the world around him burst into bright white light. The Doctor could feel his arms strapped down, needles driven into his skull and his head itself was thumping a headache that felt like someone was repeatedly hitting his skull. He tried to open his eyes but he could only get them halfway. Blurs of people and objects were apparent but he couldn't make anything solid out.

He felt the grip on his arms and the needles in his head recede, and suddenly he was falling forwards as his legs gave way.

"I've got you!" a voice said, and he was caught by someone, who them dragged him a few metres before setting him down on the ground, sitting him up against something.

"What..." the Doctor began, but he couldn't seem to find the right words to say. He closed his eyes, taking a few moments to even out his breathing before opening them again to meet the gaze of the girl who had stabbed him.

"You!" the Doctor exclaimed, his eyes wide.

"It's okay," she said quickly. "I'm really sorry, but I had to get you out..."

He looked up at his surroundings, and to his complete surprise he found Ianto, Mickey, Sarah and Jack all standing there staring at him anxiously. "What?" he asked, confused.

"The Master linked you into a hallucinogenic scenario," the girl explained, "and he used your brain to create the forest and the house, and wired everyone else in. The only way out of the simulation was by dying, but you were the centre of the scenario, powering it through your mind, and the shock of the disconnection gave you a massive brain aneurysm."

"No wonder my head hurts," the Doctor muttered, putting a hand on his forehead. He was bleeding from tiny pinpricks of where the headband had been around his skull.

"You were dead for two minutes," Sarah explained, moving to kneel down next to him.

His attention turned to the girl next, who was kneeling down next to him staring at him with wide eyes. The moment she realised he was looking at her she blinked and looked away. "Who are you? What are you doing here? How did you know what to do?"

She swallowed nervously, looking back up at him again. It was obvious she was absolutely terrified. He gave her a reassuring smile, encouraging her to go on.

"My name's Leah," she began. "My Dad died in a car accident before I was born. My Uncle took my and my Mum in and looked after us, but my Mum was always so sad, she missed him so badly. She said the only thing she lived for was me. On my twelfth birthday I asked Mum who my Dad was. She gave me a photo." She reached inside her coat and drew out a dog-eared photo she had obviously kept with her for years, and gave it to him.

The Doctor stared at it in disbelief. "That's me."

"My name's Leah Tyler. My Mum is Rose Tyler."

The Doctor looked up at her, staring. "I died in a car accident?"

She shook her head. "Just before she died my Mum told me my Dad had been killed, when you met the Master. Ianto Jones, Mickey Smith and Sarah Jane Smith were all killed too. She gave me a date and the place and I taught myself to fly the TARDIS. By changing the history on what your future self told you, you changed it into something even worse. And it's happening right now. I came to change it. For you. For my Mum."

The Doctor impulsively leaned forward and hugged her tightly.

"You're her... You're my daughter..." he said as he held her close. "Thank you."

"Aww, sweet," suddenly came a voice from the doorway. The Doctor instantly looked up, shocked to find the future version of the Master standing in the doorway, a gun in his hand, pointing at the Doctor and Leah.

"Your plan failed, Koschei," the Doctor said strongly, pushing himself onto his feet and stepping in front of Leah to place himself between her and the gun

"Oh, _I_ don't think so," the Master said with a knowing smile. "That was just for kicks."

"What do you mean?"

"Rose is still poisoned, Doctor. And you have five minutes to get her the antidote."

For a moment there was utter silence. Everyone looked to and from the faces of the two Time Lords, unsure of what would happen next.

The Doctor's face turned to one of utter _fury_. The room almost seem to grow cold as fire danced in his eyes, staring at the Master with pure, undivided malice. Even the Master looked slightly apprehensive. The Doctor moved forward, striding purposefully towards the Master who unintentionally stepped back, hesitant. Then he quickly remembered the weapon in his hand and he raised it to the Doctor, but the other Time Lord simply grabbed the Master's wrist and slammed it into the wall hard enough to break it, the gun dropping uselessly to the floor. The Doctor's other hand rose up and pressed against the Master's throat, his face within inches of the Master's.

"Tell me where Rose is," the Doctor said in a voice too soft to be one of sanity.

"And why would I tell you?" the Master asked, clearly trying desperately to keep a calm persona.

"Or I will kill you," the Doctor replied simply, not even blinking.

The Master laughed. "You wouldn't kill me."

"Rose is my bonded partner. She is carrying _my_ child. I'm sure even _you_ understand that I will rip you _limb from limb_ if they die." The Doctor's hand got a little tighter around his throat.

The Master swallowed, near choking. "She's in sector 37 in a storage room."

The Doctor took his hand off of the Master's throat, grabbed his head and slammed it hard against the wall. The Master fell to the floor, unconscious.

The Doctor didn't even look at any of the others as he disappeared out of the room, screaming Rose's name.

 


	17. Destiny

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Reunited, the Doctor's group find Rose and the Doctor's future self, but the Master already has plans.

The double sat with Rose, still stroking back her hair from her face as her life slowly ebbed away. Her heart was slowing. Her breathing was becoming more and more hitched. And he could do nothing. He was watching her die all over again.

"Rose!"

The double looked up, shocked. Was it? Could it be?

"Rose! Where are you?" It was the Doctor.

"In here!" the double yelled back, sitting up slightly. "We're in here!"

"I'm coming!" the Doctor's voice yelled back, and soon there was the sound of running footsteps getting closer and closer.

"Hurry up!" the double yelled as the Doctor skidded to a halt outside the clear glass door, buzzing it with his sonic screwdriver. In seconds it slid open and he ran over to them both, taking Rose into his arms.

"C'mon Rose, please, please..." He reached into his pocket and drew out the antidote, popping the cork and pressing the top of the bottle against Rose's lips. "Drink, please, please, swallow, please..."

Rose suddenly groaned, squirming in his arms before finally opening her eyes to look up at him blearily.

"Doctor?" she asked, tired.

"Rose," the Doctor whispered, pulling her in for a tight hug.

"About time too," she said in his chest, and the Doctor laughed, pulling her closer.

"I'm sorry," he said.

Suddenly the ship jolted with the sound of a loud crash in the distance. Then the room was shaking like an earthquake. The Doctor looked up in surprise as Jack and the others ran into the room, collectively stumbling.

"Someone just launched an escape pod..." the Doctor muttered, slipping his arms underneath Rose and getting to his feet. "Probably one of the Masters... The hull's unstable, it's started the disintegration of the ship!" He turned to Jack. "Take Rose, I need to check he's okay," the Doctor said, gesturing with his head at his double. Jack obediently took her into both arms, guiding her onto her feet and turning and running out the door as the Doctor dropped down next to his future self.

Suddenly an alarm sounded, blaring across the entirety of the ship. There was a faint hissing sound and a loud clunk, and the glass door of the room slid closed, and locked.

"What?" the Doctor yelled, jumping to his feet and rushing to the door. "The ship's gone into deadlock lock-down!" He was almost sent flying as the infrastructure collapsed down not far from his head, a pipe coming loose and crashing to the floor.

"Oh no..." the Doctor muttered as he sniffed the air, getting to his feet. "Radiation directly from the core..."

"Is it dangerous?" Jack asked quickly.

"Yes," Leah interrupted with a whisper, her eyes brimming with tears as she stared at her father. "Can we override the lock-down?"

"Yes, but..." The Doctor was running his hands through his hair, his teeth gritted as he gazed around at Ianto, Mickey, Sarah, his double and Leah in the room with him, all staring at him with heartbreaking hope. "It’ll take too long... it irradiates strong enough to kill us all in three minutes..."

All the same, he rushed over to the control panel next to the door and began to hammer buttons, trying in vain to get the door open. Leah rushed to stand next to him. But the radiation was already poisoning them.

"Jack, Rose, Get out of here!" the Doctor said urgently, already struggling to focus properly. "The escape pods, only one launched, get to the other and get out of here!"

"No!" Rose yelled, stepping forward to the door with Jack supporting her as she was still shaky on her feet.

The humans in the room were beginning to falter. Ianto was retching, Mickey was holding his head, Sarah was sitting down in an attempt to stop the world spinning and the Doctor's future self was as pale as milk. The Doctor and Leah were hammering buttons in a frenzy, trying anything they could to override the lockdown but the door to freedom stayed resolutely closed.

After a few moments the Doctor winced and drew back from the panel, leaning heavily on the glass door looking extremely pale. He was fighting the urge to throw up, his head throbbing angrily.

"Please, Doctor!" Rose yelled through the door, tears coursing down her face. "Please!"

The Doctor no longer had the strength to hold himself up. He slid to the floor and leaned against the glass door with his cheek pressed against the pane.

"D-Doctor..." Rose stammered, dropping to her knees and pressing her hand against the glass.

"Rose," the Doctor whispered weakly, his eyes sunken, his face ashen with sweat on his forehead. "Please..." he broke into a coughing fit as he looked up at her, slowly raising his hand to the glass to place his hand where hers was. "Go."

Suddenly Rose was angry. "Don't you dare!" she screamed, repeatedly hammering his fist on the glass that separated them. "Don't you dare! Not now! Not ever! Please, Doctor!"

"It's happening again..." a voice suddenly whispered from inside the room. It was Leah, and she was crawling weakly over to the Doctor, taking his hand and squeezing it gently. "Dad.."

Rose's eyes widened. "Are you...?"

Leah looked up at Rose, her Doctor brown eyes filled with tears. She looked back down at the Doctor, who was looking at her, smiling sadly.

"I won't let it happen. You're not dying. Not again," she whispered, gazing into his eyes. "I want my daddy. I love you."

She pushed herself shakily to her feet, supporting herself on the wall. The Doctor's eyes widened and his smile faded as he realised what she was going to do...

"No, Leah, please..." he began weakly, but it was already happening. She was absorbing all of the radiation...

Moments passed, and then the girl collapsed to the floor.

"Leah..." the Doctor whined, sobbing as he pushed himself over to her, holding his hand above her open mouth. She wasn't breathing. He hung his head, closing his eyes as tears ran down his cheeks.

"Doctor, the deadlock," Jack said urgently. The Doctor nodded, swallowing before he dragged himself over to the panel next to the door. The other people in the room were starting to gain their strength back, lifting their heads to look dizzily at their surroundings as the Doctor hammered the buttons. It took two minutes before the door drew back and the Doctor staggered towards the door, practically falling into Rose's arms. Jack moved into the room, helping the others out into the corridor before returning to take Leah's body.

"No," the Doctor said quickly, leaning on Rose. " Don't touch her. She's brimming with lethal radiation..."

 

* * *

 

They made it to the one remaining escape pod as the entire ship collapsed around them. They dived inside the cramped pod; only just enough space for them all to fit inside.

The Doctor made a good show of putting on energy he simply didn't have, beckoning everyone in until he, Rose, Jack, Ianto and Sarah were all in. The Doctor's double shut the door from the outside and secured it.

"What are you doin'?" Rose asked the double, almost angrily as she held the drowsy Doctor close.

"The Master's following us, he's going to stop the launch," the double replied, his voice muffled through the door as he glanced nervously over his shoulder. "I can delay him."

Rose's eyes widened. "But you'll..."

"Rose," the double said simply, staring at her through the circular clear panel in the centre of the door. "I have nothing left. I lost my Rose, I lost my child..."

"But you can be with us!" Rose protested. "You said..."

"I can't, Rose. I just can't. When my Rose died, I died with her. I can't get better. You have him..." He inclined his head towards the Doctor in her arms who was staring at him in silence. "You have your baby. Please, let me do this." He paused, looking down at the ground before back up again through the window. "I love you. Let me do this for you. Let me save you like I couldn’t save you before."

Rose fell silent, tears once again forming in her eyes. "Okay."

He half-smiled, turning away to tap at a keyboard. "Jack, I'm plotting a course for you for Earth. Good luck."

"You too, Doctor," Jack replied, his voice slightly shaky.

The double disappeared from the window, and suddenly a screen next to the control panel jumped into electronic life, a blue background with write writing in bold lettering in the centres.

**10...**

**9...**

**8...**

**7...**

**6...**

**5...**

**4...**

**3...**

**2...**

**1...**

The double closed his eyes as the sound of the metallic clamps disengaging came loud and clear, reverberating throughout the ship and causing yet more of the structure to fall. After a moment the sound of the clamps stopped. He glanced back out of the window, seeing the pod slowly drifting away across space and back towards Earth. He didn't look away quickly enough to avoid Rose's distraught expression through the tiny window, and it broke his heart.

"Oh, I don't think so," suddenly said a voice from behind him and the double spun around to meet the gaze of the future Master, his arms folded, a humourless smile on his face. "Remagnetise the pod, Doctor."

"No," the double replied simply, staring into the Master's eyes.

The Master looked almost delighted at his rebellion. "Did you just say no? You know I loved it when you say no.”

The double didn't waste time. He simply raised his hand, clenched it into a fist and slammed it straight into the Master's jaw. It took the other Time Lord by sheer surprise, and he fell backwards onto the floor, staring at the double in shock.

"But... But I broke you! You do everything I tell you!" he almost squeaked.

Now it was the double's turn to give that cold, humourless smile. "Not anymore, Master." He stepped over the other Time Lord, placing his foot on his chest and pinning him to the ground. "Guess what. While you were busy playing megalomaniac with them I got out and activated the self detonation of the ship. Countdown commences 'round about..." He looked at his wrist, as if consulting an imaginary watch. "... Now."

 _"Self detonation in 10..."_ a woman's voice spoke, perfectly calm and even.

"What?" the Master shrieked, panic in his expression. "You can't do this! I broke you!

_"9..."_

"This is your fault, Master," the double grated softly.  
_  
"8..."_

"I endured so much. I cried. I screamed."

_"7..."_

"Because of what you did."

_"6..."_

"But I'm not your toy anymore.”  
_  
"5..."_

"You killed my Rose."

_"4..."_

"You killed my baby."

_"3..."_

"And now because of what you've done..."

_"2..."_

"You've killed yourself."

_"1..."_

"Good bye."

 

* * *

 

Suddenly the escape pod lurched violently, sending everyone into their nearest respective walls. They continued to spin, out of control.

"What the hell is going on?" Jack yelled over the commotion, trying to keep Ianto, Mickey and Sarah safely pinned to the ground as Rose clutched desperately onto the Doctor.

"The ship!" Rose realised as she caught a fleeting glance of the ship they had just escaped through the window of the spinning escape pod. "It exploded!"

Jack was struggling to both keep everyone safe and check the systems as the world around him kept revolving around and around. "Stabilised!" he yelled as he hit a few buttons, and suddenly the pod was thrown back over one more time before it managed to stay balanced, albeit upside-down. We're still heading towards Earth, but we're gonna crash!"

"After all that!" Rose exclaimed, looking down at the Doctor lying half conscious in her arms.

"Destiny," the Doctor muttered. "Can't escape it."

Rose smiled sadly and brushed back his hair from his eyes. "This is it."

"If this is what destiny is, then let's see it out together. I love you, Rose."

"I love you too," Rose whispered, and pressed her lips to his.

"Impact!" Jack yelled.

 


	18. Wrapping Up

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The group crash back onto Earth on the coast of Brazil, and the Doctor takes Sarah home.

**Somewhere on coast of Brazil...**

The sea was still and silent at the hour of 4am. No one noticed the small metal craft plummet from out of the night sky, screaming loudly as it fell down towards the ocean, covered in flames. It fell faster and faster, down and down until it crashed into the sea, sending a tidal wave out in all directions... but by the time the wave hit the shore, it was barely two feet high.

Thirty minutes later there came the sound of voices from the water, swearing and moaning until one Captain Jack Harkness reached the beach, hauling Ianto and Mickey by their collars. Together the three flopped down onto the sand, wet through and panting heavily.

"Why am I always saving your asses?" Jack asked seriously before he glanced up at the shore to find the Doctor helping Sarah and Rose onto dry land. The girls and the Doctor all collapsed onto the sand as their friends had done, all gasping for oxygen.

"Never... again," the Doctor panted, completely wet through with his hair sticking to his forehead, his clothes feeling like they weighed a ton with his injured leg screaming its protest in the mix.

"How did we even survive that?" Sarah asked seriously.

"Luck," Ianto answered simply, smiling broadly as Jack held him tight. “Not destined to die yet.”

"We're alive," Rose muttered, smiling through pain and turning her head to look at the Doctor lying next to her, spread eagled on the sand. He looked at her. Despite the pain in his leg, and even through she was absolutely drenched, her hair matted and chaotic and with sand caking one half of her face, she was still beautiful.

"We're alive," the Doctor repeated, smiling broadly in return before he leaned forward and kissed her deeply. After a moment he drew back, gazing into her eyes.

"My right wrist is tingling," he said, looking down at her's. "You've broken it."

"My leg is tingling," she replied, looking down at his. "Yours is broken."

"Who's hurt?" the Doctor asked. Just about everyone made an affirmative noise in reply.

"Where the hell are we, anyway?" Mickey asked, looking around at the beach.

The Doctor craned his neck to observe the warning sign in a foreign language just at the end of the beach. "Brazil."

"Long walk to Wales..." Ianto muttered.

"Wait for it," the Doctor said simply, raising a finger in the air. Silent seconds passed, but then there came the sound of a familiar churning just behind the Doctor, where a blue wooden box faded into existence. The Doctor flipped over, staring at the TARDIS with a huge grin on his face. "Emergency protocol, protecting the pilot!" he enthused. "She knows me and Rose are hurt. C'mon." He struggled to his one working foot, wincing badly. He helped Sarah up, who was groaning and balancing on one leg too. Rose obliged by getting in-between them, letting them both lean on her for support. "First stop, Infirmary."

Jack followed suit, getting to his feet. "Yeah. And after that, I’m just about ready to get completely and utterly drunk."

 

* * *

 

Martha Jones was headed back to the Torchwood Hub in return from her honeymoon, a bounce in her step with a brand new golden band around her finger.

She entered the Hub from the shop, the metal circular door sliding back to allow her entrance as smoothly as always. But the Hub was empty.

"Hello?" she called, spinning on her heel to look around for any signs of life. She was by no means looking where she was going, and as a result she almost walked straight into the blue box sitting just up the steps with the door wide open.

Martha's eyes widened. "Doctor? Rose?" She stuck her head inside the doors, the familiar circular console room humming gently. "Jack?"

She could hear voices echoing from inside the TARDIS, through the door on the other side of the console room. She made her way through the door and down the hallways, following the sound of the voices to what she recognised as one of the living rooms.

She poked her head inside, finding Sarah Jane, Mickey, Jack, Ianto, the Doctor and Rose all spread out on the sofas, staring at the 150 inch TV in the corner currently showing Rugrats: The Movie. Empty alien-branded beer bottles and bowls of nibbles were strewn out all over the coffee table and Jack was snoring loudly, clearly he’d been the one to drink them all. But Martha wasn't concentrating on that. She was staring at all the bandages wrapped around parts of her friends' limbs – the Doctor's leg was bandaged firmly and resting on the coffee table; Rose's right arm was in a sling; Mickey head was bandaged; Ianto's face was covered in cuts and Sarah had an impressive bruise on her ankle, swollen and caked in ice packs.

For a moment, Martha just stared at them all before she finally found the words to speak.

"What the hell happened?"

"Oh, you know, the usual," the Doctor replied brightly, not even looking up with his head resting on Rose's shoulder. "Future self, the Master..."

"Guns, fevers, knives, crashes..." Jack added.

"Cannibals, Vashta Nerada, Weeping Angels..." Sarah continued.

"Poison, daughter, death..." Ianto said.

"Destiny, radiation, explosions..." Rose said.

"Escape pods, more crashes, some more explosions, Brazil..." Mickey said.

"Oh, and Rose is pregnant," the Doctor added on the end.

The resultant silence was deafening.

For a moment Martha stared at the Doctor and Rose, trying to process everything they'd said before a smile spread onto her face. "Congratulations!"

"Thanks," Rose replied, looking down at her belly that the Doctor's hand was spread across. She turned to him, pecking a kiss to his cheek before attempting to move out from underneath him. He didn't budge. "Doctor, I need to get your medication..."

"Medication?" Martha repeated, staring at the Doctor. "Maybe you'd better start from the beginning..."

 

* * *

 

Twenty minutes later and Martha was perched on the sofa on the other side of the Doctor, helping herself to some salt and vinegar crisps. The tale drew to a close, leaving her open-mouthed in shock.

"So he's still out there? The Master?" she asked, tense.

"He may have been hit by the shockwave of the explosion," the Doctor muttered, yawning widely. "But he was probably heading towards Earth."

"He crashed here?" Sarah asked. "He could be on Earth?"

The Doctor just shrugged. "There's no telling where he ended up. I can't feel him... But he'll be back."

"But..." Martha began, but Rose quickly shook her head, pointing at the Doctor lying on her with his eyes shut, fast asleep. Martha smiled at the sight, before looking up at the rest of the room. She was hugely surprised to find Ianto and Mickey had joined Jack, all snoring away quite loudly.

"I think we should call it a night," Sarah said, laughing. Rose and Martha laughed in return, nodding their agreement.

 

* * *

 

The Doctor had taken Sarah back home the next day, giving her a pair of crutches to walk with until her sprained ankle had cleared up. Luke was overjoyed to see his mum, running up to her and hugging her tightly.

"Now you," Sarah started on the Doctor, letting go of Luke and turning towards the Time Lord standing in the doorway of the TARDIS next to Rose, his hands in his pockets. "You had better not disappear."

The Doctor grinned innocently. "Wouldn't dream of it."

"Oh!" Sarah suddenly exclaimed, turning to Luke. She whispered something in his ear, and he quickly dashed over to the other side of the attic, ducking down underneath a desk and pulling out a large old-looking box, carrying it over to them. "I want you to have this."

"What is it?" Rose asked, kneeling down to the box and pulling the top open to reveal it was full to the brim of children's toys and clothes. "Oh!"

"Past wishes," Sarah smiled sadly. "I'm far too old now. They'll need a clean but nothing’s broken.”

"Thanks, Sarah," the Doctor said, giving her a hug.

"We'll bring her to see you," Rose said, also hugging her.

"Bye, Luke!" the Doctor said, giving the boy a wave. Luke waved back.

"Good luck." Sarah watched them as they gave a final wave and disappeared into the TARDIS, taking the box with them. In moments the TARDIS faded from existence, leaving Sarah and Luke once more in the attic.

"Mum!" Luke suddenly burst out hopping from foot to foot, obviously having wanted to say something from the moment he'd seen her but had kept it in. "You have to sort this out! It's the Berserker!" And within seconds he had run out of the attic door.

Sarah smiled, sighing happily as she followed Luke out of the door. Nothing had changed. But she wouldn't have it any other way.

 


	19. Doctor Daddy

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Months later, Rose goes into labour while visiting Torchwood, and everyone discovers the full consequence of the Doctor's illness and its connection to the pregnancy.

The Doctor and Rose had agreed with Martha that they'd come back every two weeks to let her check up on the baby. By the time October rolled around Rose was big, but the Doctor was the one that was glowing. He found it extremely bizarre how he could be feeling happy, positive and playful one moment then suddenly agitated, nauseous and exhausted the next. He'd spent the past eight months crying for no reason, craving cod-flavoured croissants and doing all of the things that technically Rose should have probably been doing. But now they had a due date and with the Doctor's raging hormones they had both decided to stay in the Hub until the baby was born.

One morning the Doctor awoke, feeling a lot brighter and happier than he had for a few days. The bed was empty of Rose, so he got dressed and went out into the Hub, finding everyone working intently at their computers. He found Rose and Jack in the midst of a conversation in the lounge area, and neatly plonked himself down on the sofa next to Rose.

“Morning,” Rose said. “Sorry, I didn’t wanna wake you up. What mood are you in today?”

The Doctor beamed at her. “Good!” he enthused.

“Thank God,” Rose breathed.

The Doctor’s eyes narrowed slightly. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Nothin’,” Rose said quickly.

“Hey, we had a great case yesterday!” Jack suddenly said in a lame attempt to stop the impending argument, but he was ignored.

“No, go on,”the Doctor insisted. “I irritate you, don’t I?”

“Doctor, you…”

“I try, Rose!” he insisted, on his feet. “I try to please you but I’m just not good enough, am I!? Admit it, you’re thinking it!”

“Doctor, you’re fine,” she insisted.

“Fine? Is that all I am? Is that all you can say?” he said, tears in his eyes. “I’m useless! You don’t need me, you deserve better than me, you…”

“Doctor!” Jack suddenly said, jumping to his feet. “I bought some bananas earlier, did you want banana splits tonight?”

The Doctor stopped, and suddenly beamed a happy smile. “Yes!” he enthused, suddenly utterly positive. “I’m gonna make some tea. Does anyone want tea?”

Before anyone could react to his rampant mood swing, the Doctor frowned slightly, gazing at Rose for a moment before suddenly fainting clean away.

"Whoa!" Rose exclaimed as he hit the floor, narrowly missing the table. "Doctor?"

Jack was next to him in an instant, slapping his face lightly. "Doctor, wake up."

Then Rose stiffened, her eyes wide as she looked down at her belly in shock. "Jack..."

"What?" Jack asked, still trying to bring the Doctor around.

"I think my waters have broken."

Jack's looked up instantly, alert. "I'll get Martha." And within moments he was gone, flying across the Hub yelling Martha's name.

"Wha..." the Doctor suddenly murmured drowsily, his eyes flickering open at staring up at the ceiling. "Why am I on the floor?"

"Doctor..." Rose began unsteadily. He pushed himself up, looking at her. "My waters have broken."

The Doctor stared at her. "Your what?"

"It's starting," she whispered.

The Doctor jumped up immediately, sitting on the sofa next to her and holding her tight. "It'll be okay, it'll be okay..."

"I'm not worried," she said, smiling.

"You're not? I am!" he almost shrieked. Suddenly he cried out in pain, his hand flying to his stomach.

"Doctor?"

He winced, doubled over with his teeth gritted. Suddenly came the rush of footsteps as Jack returned with Martha, Mickey, Ianto, and the recently returned Gwen in tow.

"Rose, how are you feeling?" Martha asked her quickly, helping her to her feet.

"I'm fine," she replied, and it was true. The Doctor cried out in pain, still doubled over with his head practically between his knees.

"What's hurting?" Martha asked him, but he just grunted in reply.

"Does it feel like your abdominal muscles are tightening?" Gwen asked, sitting down next to him. He nodded. Gwen and Martha glanced at each other.

"What?" Jack wanted to know. "What is it?"

"He's having the contractions," Martha said simply, helping Rose to her feet.

"What?" the Doctor gasped, looking up at them with wide eyes. "I'm having the _what?_ I can't! Martha, make it stop!"

Martha resisted the urge to laugh as she guided Rose to the TARDIS. "Gwen, can you help him?"

"Come on, Doctor," Gwen urged, taking his arm.

"It stopped," the Doctor realised, looking up at Gwen. "Is that it? Will it stop now?"

Gwen didn't answer, trying in vain to stop herself from bursting out laughing as she stood up, pulling him onto his feet and guiding him into the TARDIS after Rose and Martha.

 

* * *

 

"AGH!"

"Just pant, Doctor..." Gwen said calmly, holding his hand.

"Pant? I can't PANT, you crazy woman!" the Doctor yelled, writhing.

"Yes, you can, Doctor," Gwen said calmly. "Pant, blow, like this!" She demonstrated. He copied her, but a groan came out halfway through and he curled up into a ball, crying out.

"Pant! Pant! Pant!"

"AGGGGHHHHHHH!"

"How's it going?" Jack said casually from the doorway with a grin, Mickey coming in with a camcorder and pointing it at the Doctor, who was screaming in pain. He saw Mickey, and his face turned to thunder.

"What the _hell_ are you _DOING?"_ the Doctor yelled at him angrily as Mickey moved to the bed next to him.

"Pant, Doctor, pant..." Gwen urged, holding his hand tightly.

"I'm taping it," Mickey replied innocently, unable to suppress his laughter.

"Why the hell are you _taping_ it?"

"So she can watch it back," Mickey replied calmly. "So she can see herself being born, it's a beautiful thing!"

"Or it may emotionally traumatise her," Jack added on the end, smiling.

"Get _LOST!"_ the Doctor screamed, smacking the camera with his hand. It went flying across the room and hit the wall, narrowly missing Jack still standing in the doorway. He jumped back in alarm.

"Whoa, calm down, Doctor!" he said quickly, then realised it had been totally the wrong thing to say.

"CALM DOWN!?" the Doctor shrieked, and then said something maliciously in another language at them both.

"I think he just swore at us," Mickey said.

"Maybe you should get out?" Martha advised, trying her hardest not to laugh. Jack and Mickey made a rapid escape.

"I'm glad you're all finding this so funny!" the Doctor yelled, said writhing in agony.

"Pant, Doctor, blow, pant, that's it..."

"I HATE YOU ALL!" the Doctor screamed, then began panting again as he shifted on the bed to a more comfortable position, his head pressing into the sheets with his bum sticking in the air.

"It'll be over soon," Gwen advised, still clutching his hand. He was gripping hers so tightly she was sure she'd lost blood flow to it a couple of hours ago. Now she knew what she had put Rhys through. She _almost_ felt sorry for him.

"I want an epidural," the Doctor moaned, his eyes tightly closed.

"You can't have one, you know that," Martha said gently, rubbing his back. "It would kill you and could harm the baby and Rose through the bond."

"GIVE ME A DAMN EPIDURAL!" he demanded, tears pouring down his face.

"How far dilated is Rose?" Gwen asked quickly.

Martha made a face. "About one centimetre. I don't think she's contracting properly, since the Doctor's the one having them. We could be in for a very long labour, here, the baby's not even head down yet. How far apart are the contractions?" she asked Gwen.

"Every minute. She should be fully dilated."

Martha paused, considering. "If Rose doesn't dilate some more soon we might have to take action, for the Doctor's sake."

 

* * *

 

Another four hours passed, and Rose had only dilated a further one centimetre. The Doctor had given up screaming around an hour ago and was now just lying on his side curled up in a ball on the bed propped up by pillows, tears in his eyes. He'd since taken off his coat, tie, jacket and shoes, with his shirt unbuttoned and his sleeves rolled up. He was visibly exhausted.

Martha watched him from where she tended to Rose pursing her lips. Rose had been in labour for nine hours, but the Doctor was the one handling the contractions. He couldn't have an epidural, so he was in a lot of pain. The situation had stopped being funny several hours ago; even Mickey, Jack and Ianto were worried.

After a moment she got up and made towards the Doctor, sitting down next to him on the covers, resting her hand on his forehead. He was feverish, tired and barely conscious.

"They can't go on like this," Martha muttered to Gwen. "Doctor?"

He grunted in reply, his eyes closed.

"I'm going to have to sedate you so you can get some rest. Is that okay?"

He grunted again, nodding his head slightly. Suddenly he let out a long moan, his brow furrowing as he hid his face beneath the covers of the bed, his hands entangled in his hair.

"Doctor," Rose appeared next to the bed, hand on her belly. "Is he okay?" she asked Martha anxiously.

"I'm going to sedate him so he can get some sleep," Martha answered, busying herself with preparing an injection as Rose sat down on the bed next to the Doctor, holding him to her. She could feel his distress and it was making her anxious and more in need of him than ever.

Martha pressed the needle gun to his arm and pulled the trigger, the liquid filtering in. Rose continued to hold him tightly until he fell limp.

"Jack's going to watch you," Martha said to Rose as the man himself stepped up next to the bed, sporting an encouraging smile. "If anything happens he'll come and get me."

Rose nodded, looking back down at the Doctor as he slept.

"How are you feeling?" Jack asked.

"I'm okay," Rose replied, still staring at the Doctor. "But he... This isn't fair on him."

Jack nodded, understanding. "Just go to sleep. I'll watch him."

 


	20. The Birth

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Doctor continues to struggle to cope with the contractions as the birth continues.

When the Doctor woke up, the first thing he encountered was pain. He cried out, hands gripping on the nearest thing available, which happened to be Rose. She held him tightly.

"He's awake," she said, looking over at Martha.

"Doctor," Martha moved over to them both, taking the seat Jack had since vacated.

He bit back his next yell as he forced his eyes open to look up at them both. "What's the time?"

"7am," Martha replied. "You slept for twelve hours."

"How much longer?"

"Rose is at five centimetres, but it's speeding up at the moment."

"Is the baby engaged?" he asked tiredly.

"No," Martha replied. "This is a potential footling breech birth, we might have to do a c-sec..."

"No, no operations," the Doctor interrupted, grunting as he pushed himself up onto his knees over Rose. He quickly cracked his knuckles before placing his left hand on the bottom of Rose's abdomen and his right just above it. He began to move his hands clockwise around Rose's tummy, repeatedly trying to bring the baby around.

Martha just stood back, and let him do it. Every minute the Doctor had to stop to cry out, doubling over. After twenty minutes Martha suggested they go on a short walk to maybe help things along, so the Doctor and Rose settled with pacing around the TARDIS Infirmary, making idle chat and arguing about what colour to make the baby's room.

Rose had been in labour for twenty-five hours before she dilated to seven centimetres, but as she dilated the Doctor's pain was increasing, until he could no longer walk. Martha took Rose out on another walk, this time around the TARDIS interior, leaving the Doctor with Jack and Gwen. The Doctor had been passing out on quite a few contractions and coming back around just in time for the next one.

"Jack," the Doctor gasped through the oxygen mask on his face, reaching for Jack's hand.

Jack obliged, holding his hand tightly. "What?"

"Don't let Martha... ahhh... Don't let her do a c-section," the Doctor muttered. "Only if the baby's in danger."

Jack frowned. "But you're..."

"Don't... worry about me," the Doctor muttered through deep breaths. "I'm not important. Please, just don't let her. Promise me."

Jack nodded. "I promise."

The Doctor cried out in another wave of a contraction, tensing.

"Pant, blow, pant," Gwen said gently, but he'd passed out. "God, Jack, I don't think he's going to last much longer."

"I think he has a higher pain threshold than humans," Jack said, "he must be on an endorphin flow by now... Just thank God it's him and not Rose. The pain could've killed her by now."

The door opened and Jack and Gwen looked around to find Martha and Rose re-entering the Infirmary.

"How is he?" Martha asked, guiding Rose over to them and helping her onto the bed next to the Doctor.

"He keeps passing out," Gwen answered as Rose gathered the unconscious Time Lord up in her arms.

"Let me check your dilation, Rose," Martha said, finding a pair of gloves. "If you haven't progressed we might have to seriously consider surgery, for his sake."

"No," Jack said quickly, grabbing Martha's arm. "I promised him I wouldn't let you."

"What?"

"He said no operations, not unless the baby's in danger."

"I don't want an operation," Rose said quickly, suddenly scared. "Not if he doesn't."

"Okay," Martha resigned, defeated. "No operations. But I need to check on you."

Rose nodded, shifting into position. The Doctor suddenly groaned, coming back around to find Rose sitting next to him.

"Hey," Rose said gently, kissing his forehead. "Martha's checking me now."

He nodded, and then cried out as another contraction hit. Rose held him through it until he pulled through.

"The foetal heartbeat and oxygen saturation are fine, that baby's engaged and you're at nine centimetres!" Martha announced triumphantly after a moment. A smile broke out on everyone's faces. "It won't be long now."

"You hear that, Doctor?" Rose said quietly to him. He was flagging in Rose's arms, lethargic. He nodded slightly, swallowing. "It's gonna be okay. Just lie back and think of marmalade."

He smiled slightly, before it turned into a wince halfway through. Rose almost felt like bursting into tears at the sight of him so helpless and wracked with pain. Panting and blowing he looked up at Rose, and gave a watery smile.

"It's okay," he whispered. "This is worth it."

Rose nodded, leaning forward and kissing him deeply. "I love you."

"Oh no..." the Doctor suddenly muttered, closing his eyes and placing his hands on his stomach. "Oh no..."

"What?" Martha said quickly, moving forward to him.

"I need to push," he said, his mouth completely dry.

"I need to push too..." Rose muttered, hand on her own belly.

"Don't, not yet," Martha said quickly, glancing at Jack and Gwen. "Neither of you. If you push the cervix could swell and prolong labour."

"I need to push!" the Doctor said again in a panic, slightly louder.

"You can't, Doctor," Martha said firmly. "Did you not hear what I just said?"

"This is a very new feeling for me!" the Doctor yelped, sitting up.

"You can't push!"

Another contraction ripped through the Doctor, heightened by his panicked state. He screamed in pain.

"Just a little bit longer!" Martha urged. "Don't push, not yet."

The Doctor began to spill out several large alien words that could only be the equivalent of swearing. "Don't push..." he muttered under his breath to himself. "Don't push, don't push, don't push..."

Martha was checking the dilation again. "Not there yet," she muttered. "Okay, Rose," she turned to the woman. "When we're ready, you have to push with the contractions. Doctor," she turned to the alien half-hanging over the bed's side rail, panting and blowing. "You have to tell Rose when you're feeling the contractions so she can push at the right time."

"Just push when he screams, then," Jack muttered quietly from the side.

"And Doctor, please try not to pass out," Martha added on the end. The Doctor stared at her as though he'd like nothing more than to rip her apart with his bare hands...

"I HATE YOU!" he screamed, doubling over again.

"Doctor, that's not nice..."

"I HOPE YOU DIE!”

"Can I push yet?" Rose asked, the strain of the effort not to push evident in her tone.

Martha checked the dilation again. "Okay, we're ready. Doctor, are you contracting?"

"AAAAAGGGGHHHH!"

"That's a yes then," Martha murmured. "Push!"

The Doctor braced himself on the side rail. His knuckles turned white as his fists clenched, him and Rose pushing with all their might.

"Stop! Stop!" the Doctor quickly gasped, panting and blowing.

"This has to be the most surreal moment of my life so far," Rose muttered, staring at the Doctor as he tried to compose himself before the next contraction. When it came, he screamed as a cue to push. Shortly afterwards it came to a close.

"There's no sign of her yet," Martha said from the foot of the bed.

"HURRY UP!" the Doctor yelled. "PUSH!"

More screams erupted on the Doctor's part as he and Rose pushed with all their might.

"Stop stop stop!" he gasped, clambering over the end of the bed and curling up into a ball on the floor, trying in vain to find a comfortable place.

"This is a bit slow..." Martha tutted.

"I DID NOT WANT TO HEAR THAT!" came a scream from the floor.

"Do you need anything?" Gwen asked the Doctor quickly.

"Water," he panted, still curled up on the floor. Gwen quickly rushed off to fill his order before the next contraction came and they pushed again.

"She's crowning!" Martha announced, beaming as it drew to a close. "Pant and blow you two, we're almost finished."

"I bloody hope so," Rose muttered, staring at the Doctor.

"PUSH!" the Doctor screamed again. By the time they'd finished the shoulders were out.

"We're almost done!" Martha said happily.

"You said that last time!" the Doctor yelled angrily, writhing on the floor.

"Well we're slightly more almost than the last almost," Jack contributed, slightly unhelpfully.

"Doctor." Gwen handed him a plastic cup filled with water. The Doctor made no hesitation to take the cup of water, pull back his arm and throw it directly at Jack's head. Water splashed everywhere as Jack fell back, stunned.

"GO AWAY, HARKNESS!"

"Right-o." Jack saluted, running out the door.

"AGGGGH!"

"Push, Rose!" Martha urged. "Doctor!"

"I _AM_ PUSHING!" the Doctor screamed.

As the contraction stopped Martha was elated. "Just one more!"

Another contraction came and went.

"Last one!" Martha said happily.

"You don't have very good judgement do you?" the Doctor shouted angrily. "AAAGGGGHHH!"

"She's out!" Gwen said excitedly as the sound of a crying baby erupted into the room. The Doctor turned his head, still panting to find Martha holding something that looked wrinkled, purple, wet and squashed, a chubby face scrunched up and screaming its heart out.

It was his newborn daughter.

And she was beautiful.

Martha wrapped the newborn in a blanket and quickly placed her on her mother's chest. The Doctor struggled to his feet, still contracting but not half as bad as before. He made it over to Rose and his daughter with a strength he didn't know he had in him, lying down on the bed next to them and for a moment just staring. Martha delivered the placenta minutes later with no input from the parents, who were just fawning over their new child as Gwen rushed out of the Infirmary to tell the others.

"She's beautiful," the Doctor whispered, tears in his eyes as he reached up to stroke the girl's face. "She's got your nose."

Rose laughed, shifting the baby to lay closer to him. He cuddled up closer, kissing them both.

"So this is Leah," Rose said. "It's kind of depressing to know she grows up to be more pretty than me."

The Doctor laughed and kissed her cheek. "Thank you for this... for her," he said.

"I need to check her over," Martha said gently, a smile on her face. "Make sure she's healthy."

Rose and the Doctor nodded, letting Martha take the newborn over to an examining table to be checked. The Doctor held Rose a little tighter, a big grin over his face.

"Are you okay?" Rose asked, turning her head to look into his eyes.

"I'm brilliant," he answered, still grinning.

"Ready for another one?" Rose asked, laughing.

The Doctor made a face. "Maybe in a couple of minutes."

Rose laughed again, holding him. Five minutes later the girl was returned to them, complete with a pink woolly hat and absolutely no problems. They held her some more, just staring at her beautiful face as she remained obediently quiet and still.

It only took another ten minutes for the Doctor to fall asleep from sheer exhaustion. He completely missed everyone else coming in to fawn over the new baby.

 


	21. Leah

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Doctor muses and worries on his new role as a father, before Jackie gets a connection from the parallel universe and sees her new granddaughter.

The Doctor woke up, feeling slightly better than he had done earlier. He was lying in his own bed in the TARDIS wearing just boxers with something on his chest...

He opened his eyes to find a tiny baby staring back at him with big brown eyes that looked eerily like his own.

"Morning," he said to the baby.

"Actually, it's afternoon," came a voice from next to him, and he jumped in surprise, finding Jack lying next to him propped up in one elbow, grinning. "Hey honey," he said seductively. "Sleep well?"

"Get off my bed," the Doctor said instantly, picking up his baby and cradling her in his arms.

"Oh, but I thought we had a connection!" Jack said, grinning. "How are you feeling?"

"Better," he replied, gazing down at Leah in his arms. "Where's Rose?"

"Went with Gwen and Martha for baby stuff. Or something. I'm babysitter."

They watched for a moment as Leah stared up at her father, as if trying to decide whether she should cry or not.

"Goo goo, gaa gaa!" Jack said, stroking the girl's face. "Who's gonna grow up to be intergalactic saviour of the Universe, eh? You are, aren't you! Goo goo!" She took one look at him and burst into tears. "Hey, what I do?"

The Doctor laughed, holding the girl a little closer, kissing her forehead. She soon quietened in his arms.

"She's so beautiful," the Doctor muttered, tears in his eyes. "And she's mine to care for."

"Look," Jack said, pointing. "She's smiling."

"No... I think that's constipation," the Doctor said, frowning slightly. Leah suddenly sneezed, squeaking as snot came out of her nose, flooding everywhere.

"Not so beautiful now," Jack said, grinning.

The Doctor reached for a handkerchief and wiped it away. Leah laid still for a moment, before suddenly turning her head to his bare chest, trying to latch.

"No, Leah, no!" the Doctor said quickly, pushing her away from his nipples. "Wrong person!"

She burst into tears.

The Doctor quickly held her again. "Uncle Jack will go get you some milk, okay?" he said to her, staring pointedly at Jack, who beamed.

"Uncle? I've been promoted!" he whooped, punching the air before running out the door.

The Doctor put Leah down on the bed, her arms and legs waving around like an upturned tortoise as he slipped out from under the covers and hunted down some clothes to wear. When Jack got back the Doctor was leaning over Leah, playing peekaboo. Leah was staring at him with a what-the-hell-are-you-doing look.

"She not appreciating your peekaboo?" Jack asked as he sat down on the bed next to the Doctor, handing him the milk.

"Isn't that what you're supposed to do with babies?" the Doctor asked, sounding unsure.

Jack stared at him for a moment. "Have you ever looked after a baby before?"

"Not really," the Doctor replied, pulling Leah to sit up. "We didn't really have babies... as such... on Gallifrey. We loomed children. I didn't have a clue what a baby was when I first saw one."

"That's weird," Jack said, frowning.

"It was from Pythia's curse. It made Gallifreyans sterile for eons. Just before the Time War it was suddenly lifted. This is the first time I've..." the Doctor trailed off, staring down at Leah gulping down the milk eagerly. "Well, first time I've been in this kind of relationship since then."

Jack nodded, understanding. "We'll all help. Whenever you need a break or you're not sure. Just ask."

The Doctor nodded, still staring at Leah. She was so tiny and fragile. His thoughts must've beamed out because Jack rested a hand on his shoulder, comforting him.

"I know what you're thinking. You're thinking you'll protect her from bad things all her life because never want to see her hurt, but you're scared that you can't do that, because of who you are."

The Doctor didn't reply.

"It's okay to be scared," Jack continued. "Hell, I was _terrified_ when I gave birth but..." He suddenly stopped and cleared his throat, embarrassed. "Well, never mind about that. But she's _your_ daughter, Doctor. If she's anything like you she'll just keep running into trouble and get herself out of it just as quick, saving a few people on the way. You've got nothing to worry about."

The Doctor grinned. "Yeah. Thanks, Jack." He pulled the bottle away, much to the disgruntlement of Leah and began to pat her back. Eventually Leah burped, dribbling all over his lap.

"Nice," Jack commented, taking Leah and resuming feeding her as the Doctor moved to clean up. When he got back Jack was in the thralls of trying to get the one-day-old to talk.

"Daddy, can you say daddy? Dad-dy..."

"Ahh," Leah replied, looking up at the Doctor as he sat back down on the bed in fresh clothes.

"Dad-dy..."

"Ahhh..."

"Give it up, Jack, she's only a day old," the Doctor said. "She won't exactly be reciting Shakespeare by next week."

"No, no... Gallifreyan genius child," Jack insisted. "Daaaah... dy..."

"Ahh," Leah said, still staring at the Doctor.

"Aww, you want to go to Daddy? Dah..."

"Ahh," Leah said again. Then her face scrunched up and there was a mild smell in the air.

"Doctor, your daughter just pooed all over me," Jack informed the Time Lord, holding the baby girl at arms length with a look of disgust on his face.

"That's my girl," the Doctor applauded Leah, taking her from Jack. She looked up at him with big brown eyes.

"Ah... ahh... Daah..." Leah said.

"Yes!" Jack urged. "Daaaaaa..."

"Daah..."

"Say dyy..."

"Daaah..."

"Dyy..."

"Ahh..."

"Daaah..."

"Daaah..."

"Dyy..."

"Daah..."

"Dyy..."

"Dah..."

"Dyy!"

"Jack!" the Doctor interrupted.

"What?" Jack asked innocently.

"Nappy change! You _and_ her!"

 

* * *

 

The TARDIS churned into existence.

Sarah Jane spun around in surprise, staring at the bright blue box parked neatly in her attic. The door opened to reveal the Doctor, who grinned at her broadly.

"I promised!" he simply said, and then Rose appeared carrying a tiny newborn baby swaddled in a pink blanket. Sarah couldn't stop the squeak of adoration that erupted from her lips as she bounded forward.

"Leah, say hello to your Auntie Sarah."

"Hello, Leah," Sarah said gently.

Leah looked up at her. "Ahh."

"Do you want to hold her?" Rose asked, smiling. Sarah nodded eagerly, taking the baby and cradling her in both arms.

"She's so little! How old is she?" she asked.

"Just a day," the Doctor replied.

"Awww..." Sarah cuddled her. "She's adorable. How was the birth?"

Rose glanced at the Doctor, resisting the urge to giggle. He pursed his lips, frowning.

"Oh, smoooooth," he said simply, panning with his hand.

"We're thinking of having another one," Rose said, grinning.

"We are?" The Doctor blinked.

"And maybe three more," Rose added cheekily, tongue between her teeth.

"You'll be lucky," the Doctor muttered.

Leah suddenly yawned in Sarah's arms, blinking a few times up at her. Sarah smiled.

"I think someone needs their bed," she commented, passing Leah back to Rose. "Anytime you need a babysitter, don't hesitate to call by."

"Sure," Rose replied, smiling. With final hugs the Doctor and Rose got inside the TARDIS, and it churned back out of existence.

 

* * *

 

As the TARDIS spun through the vortex, the Doctor and Rose were deeply engrossed in a kiss. The Doctor didn't notice the alert on the screen or the slight fluctuation of power until the monitor flared into life, showing one Jackie Tyler staring down the camera at them.

The Doctor looked up in surprise, saw Jackie, and subsequently squeaked and quickly ducked under the console.

" _What the hell is this?"_ Jackie demanded, staring at Rose and the bundle in her arms.

"Mum, mum, shush," Rose urged, holding Leah up to the screen so Jackie could see the newborn child. Jackie looked nothing short of surprised.

" _Where did you get that, then?"_ she asked, dumbfounded.

"You see, Jackie," the Doctor began, getting to his feet. "When a man and a woman love each other very much, they buy furniture together, and then the man gives the woman a little seed to put inside her tummy, which..."

" _You put SEED inside my daughter?"_ Jackie practically shrieked. Leah instantly began to cry.

"Mum!" Rose quickly cuddled Leah, kissing her forehead.

"Jackie, I'd appreciate it if you kept your voice down," the Doctor suddenly said sternly, taking Leah out of Rose's grip and snuggling her. "It's okay, it's okay, nasty woman gone now... I love you, it's okay..."

Jackie surprisingly remained silent as the Doctor comforted his daughter, who slowly stopped crying. After a moment she stopped altogether, gurgling in his arms.

"Hey, you're okay now," the Doctor said gently, kissing her. "Daddy'll protect you."

Leah yawned again, her eyes closing. The Doctor glanced at Jackie on the monitor, then at Rose.

"I'll put her to bed," he said, disappearing through the door of the console room into the corridor.

For a moment there was silence.

"Please don't be angry at him, Mum," Rose pleaded. "You saw, he's a good father. He loves her. He's not going to abandon us."

Jackie could only nod. _"What's her name?"_

"Leah," Rose replied. "Leah Tyler."

Jackie smiled. _"How was the birth?"_

"It was worse for the Doctor than me. He went through a lot of pain."

Jackie nodded again. _"You just promise me you're happy, love?"_

Rose nodded. "I'm the happiest I've ever been."

" _Good. Tony says hello, he's in bed. Pete says hello too."_

The console beeped as a signal that they were losing connection to the parallel world.

"Tell them I said hi," Rose said, feeling tears in her eyes."... I miss you, Mum."

" _I miss you too, sweetheart."_ Tears were also building in Jackie's eyes. _"I love you."_

"I love you too."

" _I'll see you soon."_

"I hope so."

The monitor fizzled out to black, losing connection. Rose dropped down into the pilot seat, sobbing quietly to herself. She suddenly felt a hand resting on her back and she looked up to find the Doctor standing next to her, his expression understanding.

"C'mere," he said, sitting down next to her and wrapping his arms around her tightly, cocooning her in his embrace. "I'm sorry."

"What are you sorry for?" she asked, burying her head in his shoulder.

"Making you choose between her and me," he said, his guilt evident in his tone. "It wasn't fair on you. Whenever you see her you cry. I can feel you're sad. That's my fault."

"Don't be stupid," Rose rebuked. "I have you, I have Leah. She has my Dad, she has Tony. We both made our choice and we'd never change it. It's enough just to see her every now and then."

The Doctor nodded, and just held her in silence for five minutes until her tears had cleared up.

"Shouldn't you close the gap?" Rose wondered, drawing back. "You know, collapse of the universe and all that?"

The Doctor frowned. "Oh yeah." He jumped onto his feet, pressing some buttons dramatically on the console. "Done."

"What would you do without me?" she said, laughing.

"I really don't know," the Doctor replied, helping her to her feet. "But you're way more important than the collapsing of reality."

"Sweet," Rose said, standing on tiptoes to kiss him on the cheek. "Bedtime?"

"Bedtime," he confirmed, taking her hand and leading her through the console room door into the corridors of the TARDIS, firmly rooted inside the adventure he had always thought he could never have.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Done! That was a fun rework. 
> 
> Continued in "Paroxysmic".


End file.
